LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


A.  K.  McCLURE,  LL.D. 


FAMOUS  AMERICAN 
STATESMEN  &  ORATORS 

PAST  AND  PRESENT 


WITH 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES 

—  AND  — 

THEIR  FAMOUS  ORATIONS 

IN  SrX  VOLUMES 

VOLUME  I 


ALEXANDER  K.  MCCLURE,  LL.D. 

EDITOR 

Author  of  ^''Lincoln   and  Men  of  War    Times"   "0#r  Presidents 
and  How  We  Make  Them,"  etc. 


BYRON    ANDREWS 

of  the  "National  Tribune"  Washington^  D.  C. 
ASSOCIATE  EDITOR 

Author  of '" 'The  Eastern  Question"  k^The  Life  of  Logan"  "One  of 
the  People"  (McKinley),  "Monroe  and  His  Doctrine"  etc. 


NEW  YORK 
F.    F.    LOVELL    PUBLISHING    COMPANY 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


COPYRIGHT,  1902, 
F.  F.  LOVELL    PUBLISHING   CO, 


— BECKTOLD— 

PRINTING  AND  BOOK  MFG.  CO. 
ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 


CONTENTS. 


ADAMS,  CHARLES  FRANCIS — 

On  The  States  and  the  Union,  Page  116,  Vol.  V. 

ADAMS,  JOHN— 

Inaugural  Address,  Page  88,  Vol.  I. 
The  Boston  Massacre,  Page  97,  Vol.  I. 

ADAMS,  JOHN  QUINCY — 

Oration  at  Plymouth,  Page  107,  Vol.  II. 

Lafayette,  Page  129,  Vol.  II. 

The  Jubilee  of  the  Constitution,  Page  137,  Vol.  II. 

ADAMS,  SAMUEL — 

American  Independence,  Page  27,  Vol.  I. 

AMES,  FISHER — 

On  The  British  Treaty,  Page  19,  Vol.  II. 
ANDREW,  JOHN  A. — 

The  Eve  of  War,  Page  380,  Vol.  I. 

BAYARD,  THOMAS  F. — 

On  The  U.  S.  Army,  Page  133,  Vol.  IV. 

BEECHER,  HENRY  WARD — 

Address  at  Liverpool,  Oct.  16,  1863,  Page  204,  Vol.  V. 

BENTON,  THOMAS  H. — 

On  The  Expunging  Resolution,  Page  108,  Vol.  III. 

BEVERIDGE,  ALBERT  J. — 

For  The  Greater  Republic,   Not  for  Imperialism,  Page  3, 
Vol.  VI. 

BLAINE,  JAMES  G. — 

On  The  Remonetization  of  Silver,  Page  172,  Vol.  IV. 

BOUDINOT,  ELIAS — 

Oration  before  the  Cincinnati,  Page  195,  Vol.  I. 

BRECKINRIDGE,  JOHN  C. — 

Address  Preceding  the  Removal  of  the  Senate,  Page  371, 
Vol.  IV. 

BROOKS,  PHILLIPS — 

Abraham  Lincoln,  Page  131,  Vol.  VI. 

BROOKS,  PRESTON  S. — 

Speech  on  the  Sumner  Assault,  Page  376,  Vol.  II. 
1— I 


4  CONTENTS. 

BROWN,  BENJAMIN  GRATZ — 

On  Slavery  in  its  National  Aspects  as  Related  to  Peace  and 
War,  Page  356,  Vol.  VI. 

BROWN,  JOHN — 

Words  to  Gov.  Wise  at  Harper's  Ferry,  Page  380,  Vol.  VI. 
Last  Speech  to  the  Court,  Page  381,  Vol.  VI. 

BRYAN,  WILLIAM  J. — 

The  Cross  of  Gold,  Page  251,  Vol.  V. 

BRYANT,  WILLIAM  CULLEN — 

Welcome  to  Louis  Kossuth,  Page  62,  Vol.  VI. 
Address  at  the  Founding  of  the  Metropolitan  Art  Museum, 
Page  66,  Vol.  VI. 

BUCHANAN,  JAMES — 

Inaugural  Address,  Page  i ,  Vol.  IV. 

BURGES,  TRISTAM — 

Rebuke  to  Randolph,  Page  198,  Vol.  II. 

BURLINGAME,  ANSON 

Massachusetts  and  Sumner,  Page  13,  Vol.  III. 

BUTLER,  BENJAMIN  F. — 

Character  and  Results  of  the  War,  Page  336,  Vol.  IV. 

CALHOUN,  JOHN  C. — 

On  Nullification  and  the  Force  Bill,  Page  315,  Vol.  III. 
Speech  on  the  Slavery  Question,  Page  327,  Vol.  III. 

CASS,  LEWIS — 

On  the  Spirit  of  the  Age,  Page  357,  Vol.  III. 

CHANNING,  WM.  ELLERY — 

Character  of  Christ,  Page  84,  Vol.  III. 

CHOATE,  RUFUS — 

Books  and  Civilization  in  America,  Page  88,  Vol.  V. 

*j/     CHOATE,  JOSEPH  H. — 

Oration  on  Rufus  Choate,  Page  214,  Vol.  IV. 

CLAY,  CASSIUM  M. — 

Address  at  Yale  College,  Page  149,  Vol.  V. 

CLAY,  HENRY — 

Dictators  in  American  Politics,  Page  336,  Vol.  II. 

On  the  Expunging  Resolutions,  Page  350,  Vol.  II. 

On  the  Seminole  War,  Page  354,  Vol.  II. 

The  Emancipation  of  South  America,  Page  360,  Vol.  II. 

s/      CLEMENS,  SAMUEL  L. — 

New  England  Weather,  Page  321,  Vol.  IV. 

/     CLEVELAND,  GROVER — 

First  Inaugural  Address,  Page  276,  Vol.  V. 


CONTENTS.  5 

CLINTON,  DE  WITT — 

Phi  Beta  Kappa  Address,  Page  169,  Vol.  II. 

COCKRAN,  WILLIAM  BOURKE — 

Reply  to  William  J.  Bryan,  Page  263,  Vol.  V. 

CONKLING,    ROSCOE 

Speech  Nominating  Grant,  Page  166,  Vol.  IV. 

CORWIN,  THOMAS — 

From  Speech  on  the  Mexican  War,  Page  43,  Vol.  VI. 

Cox,  SAMUEL  S. — 

The  Beauties  of  Diplomacy,  Page  78,  Vol.  V. 

CRITTENDON,  JOHN  J. — 

On  the  Crittendon  Compromise,  Page  371,  Vol.  III. 

CUMMINGS,  AMOS  J. — 

On  the  Naval  Appropriation  Bill,  Page  106,  Vol.  VI. 

CURTIS,  GEORGE  WILLIAM — 

On  the   Spoils   System   and  the   Progress  of  Civil   Service 
Reform,  Page  253,  Vol.  VI. 

DALLAS,  GEO.  M. — 

Eulogy  of  Andrew  Jackson,  Page  62,  Vol.  IV. 

/     DAVIS,  JEFFERSON — 

Inaugural  Address,  Page  133,  Vol.  V. 

DEPEW,  CHAUNCEY  M. — 

Speech  at  the  Dinner  to  Celebrate  the  Anniversary  of  the 
Birth  of  General  Grant,  Page  311,  Vol.  IV. 

DEXTER,  SAMUEL — 

Argument  in  Selfridge's  Trial,  Page  57,  Vcl.  II. 

DONNELLY,  IGNATIUS — 

Reconstruction,  Page  197,  Vol.  IV. 

ELIOT,  CHAS.  W.— 

Inaugural   Address    as    President    of    Harvard    University, 
Page  274,  Vol.  IV. 

EMERSON,  RALPH  WALDO — • 

Harvard's  Heroes,  Page  99,  Vol.  V. 

/     EVARTS,  WILLIAM  M. — 

The  Day  We  Celebrate,  Page  326,  Vol.  IV. 

.-    EVERETT,  WILLIAM— 

Patriotism,  Page  153,  Vol.  VI. 

FRANKLIN,  BENJAMIN — 

The  Federal  Constitution,  Page  19,  Vol.  I. 
Dangers  of  a  Salaried  Bureaucracy,  Page  22,  Vol.  I. 

GALLATIN,  ALBERT — 

On  the  British  Treaty,  Page  40,  Vol.  II. 


O  CONTENTS. 

GARFIELD,  JAMES  A. — 

Inaugural  Address,  Page  185,  Vol.  IV. 

GARRISON,  WILLIAM  LLOYD — 

Words  of  Encouragement  to  Oppressed,  Page  103,  Vol.  V. 

GRADY,  HENRY  W. — 

The  New  South,  Page  342,  Vol.  V. 

GRANT,  ULYSSES  S. — 

Speech  at  Warren,  Ohio,  Page  43,  Vol.  V. 
GREELEY,  HORACE — 

On  the  Union  of  Workers,  page  195,  Vol.  V. 

GROW,  GALUSHA — 

On  Manila,  Page  38,  Vol.  III. 

HALE,  EDWARD  EVERETT— 

New  England  Culture,  Page  32,  Vol.  V. 

HAMILTON,  ALEXANDER — 

On  the  Expediency  of  Adopting  the  Federal  Constitution, 
Page  370,  Vol.  I. 

HANCOCK,  JOHN — 

Oration  on  the  Boston  Massacre,  Page  160,  Vol.  I. 

HANNA,  MARCUS  A. — 

Promotion  of  Commerce  and  Increase  of  Trade,  Page  283, 

Vol.  V. 
HARRISON,  BENJAMIN — 

Inaugural  Address,  Page  224,  Vol.  IV. 

HAWLEY,  JOSEPH  H. — 

On  the  Press,  Page  no,  Vol.  IV. 

HAY,  JOHN — 

Secretary  of  State's  Tribute  to  the  Dead  President,  Page 
193,  Vol.  VI. 

HAYES,  RUTHERFORD  B. — 

Campaign  Speech,  Page  53,  Vol.  V. 

HAYNE,  ROBERT  Y. — 

On  Foot's  Resolution,  Page  12,  Vol.  IV. 

HENRY,  PATRICK — 

"Give  Me  Liberty  or  Give  Me  Death,"  Page  126,  Vol.  I. 
"We,  the  People,"  or  "We,  the  States?"  Page  131,  Vol.  I. 
"A  Nation — Not  a  Federation,"  Page  135,  Vol.  I. 
The  Bill  of  Rights,  Page  140,  Vol.  I. 
Liberty  or  Empire  ?,  Page  146,  Vol.  I. 

HIGGINSON,  THOMAS  WENTWORTH — 

Decoration  Day  Address  at  Mount  Auburn  Cemetary,  May 

30,  1870,  Page  222,  Vol.  VI. 
Oration  Upon  Grant,  Page  226,  Vol.  VI. 
For  Self  Respect  and  Self  Protection,  Page  234,  Vol.  VI. 


CONTENTS,  / 

HILL,  BENJAMIN  H. — 

On  the  Perils  of  the  Nation,  Page  181,  Vol.  VI. 

HOAR,  GEORGE  F. — 

Address  at  the  Banquet  of  the  New  England  Society,  Page 
83,  Vol.  IV. 

HOLLAND,  JOSIAH  G. — 

Eulogy  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Page  3,  Vol.  II. 

HOLMES,  OLIVER  WENDELL — 

Leave  no  Verbal  Message,  Page  139,  Vol.  V. 

HOUSTON,  SAMUEL — 

Speech  of  the  Nebraska  and  Kansas  Bill,  Page  75,  Vol.  IV. 

INGALLS,  JOHN  J. — 

On  the  Political  Situation,  Page  241,  Vol.  IV. 

INGERSOLL,  ROBERT  G. — 

Blaine,  the  Plumed  Knight,  Page  381,  Vol.  V. 

JACKSON,  ANDREW — 

State  Rights  and  Federal  Sovereignty,  Page  149,  Vol.  II. 
Jackson's  Farewell  Address,  Page  154,  Vol.  II. 

JAY,  JOHN — 

Address  to  the  People  of  Great  Britain,  Page  256,  Vol.  I. 

JEFFERSON,  THOMAS — 

Democracy  Denned,  Page  232,  Vol.  I. 

KNOTT,  JAMES  PROCTOR — 

Speech  on  "  Duluth,"  Page  308,  Vol.  VI. 

LEE,  HENRY — 

Eulogy  on  Washington,  Page  358,  Vol.  I. 

LINCOLN,  ABRAHAM — 

At  Gettysburg,  Page  147,  Vol.  V. 

LIVINGSTON,  ROBERT  R. — 

Oration  before  the  Cincinnati,  Page  270,  Vol.  I. 

LODGE,  HENRY  C. — 

Oration  on  Daniel  Webster,  Page  356,  Vol.  V. 

LOGAN,  JOHN  A. — 

On  the  Independence  of  Cuba,  Page  103,  Vol.  IV. 

LONG,  JOHN  D. — 

Problems  of  the  Future,  page  307,  Vol.  V. 

LOWELL,  JAMES  RUSSELL — 

Oration  at  the  25oth  Anniversary  of  the  Founding  of  Har 
vard  College,  Page  3,  Vol.  V. 


8  CONTENTS. 

MADISON,  JAMES — 

On  the  Expediency  of  Adopting  the  Federal  Constitution, 

Page  282,  Vol.  I. 
Inaugural  Address,  Page  296,  Vol.  I. 

MARSHALL,  JOHN — 

Speech  on  the  Federal  Constitution,  Page  336,  Vol.  I. 

McKiNLEY,  WILLIAM — 

Last  Speech,  Page  232,  Vol.  V. 

MONROE,  JAMES — 

Federal  Experiments  in  History,  Page  33,  Vol.  II. 

MOODY,  DWIGHT  L. — 

What  Think  Ye  of  Christ  ?,  Page  119,  Vol.  VI. 

MORRIS,  GOUVERNEUR — 

Speech  on  the  Judiciary,  Page  317,  Vol.  I. 

NOTT,  ELIPHALET — 

"How  are  the  Mighty  Fallen,"  Page  308,  Vol.  II. 

OTIS,  HARRISON  GRAY — 

Eulogy  on  Alexander  Hamilton,  Page  87,  Vol.  II. 

OTIS,  JAMES — 

Against  "Writs  of  Assistance,"  Page  50,  Vol.  I. 

PARKHURST,  CHARLES  H. — 

Sermon  on  Gariield,  Page  93,  Vol.  VI. 

PAINE,  THOMAS — 

Speech  in  the  French  National  Convention,  Page  177,  Vol.  I. 

PHELPS,  EDWARD  J. — 

Farewell  Address,  Page  47,  Vol.  V. 

PHELPS,  WILLIAM  WALTER — 

Sound  Currency,  Page  315,  Vol.  V. 

PHILLIPS,  WENDELL — 

The  Murder  of  Lovejoy,  Page  159,  Vol.  V. 

PINKNEY,  WILLIAM — 

Speech  for  the   Relief  of  the  Oppressed  Slaves,   Page  78 1 
Vol.  II. 

PORTER,  HORACE — 

The  Triumph  of  American  Invention,  Page  16,  Vol.  VI. 

POTTER,  HENRY  C. — 

Memorial  Discourse  on  Phillips  Brooks,  Page  73,  Vol.  VI. 

QUINCY,  JOSIAH — 

On  the  Admission  of  Louisiana,  Page  216,  Vol.  II. 

QUINCY,  JOSIAH,  JR. — 

Speech  in  Defense  of  the  Soldiers,  Page  239,  Vol.  I. 


CONTENTS.  9 

I 

RANDOLPH,  JOHN — 

On  Foreign  Importations,  Page  240,  Vol.  II. 

RAYMOND,  HENRY  J. — 

Speech  on  Reconstruction,  Page  3,  Vol.  III. 

RED  JACKET — 

Speech  at  Fort  Stanwix,  Page  301,  Vol.  I. 
Defense  of  Stiff- Armed  George,  Page  306,  Vol.  I. 
Reply  to  Mr.  Cram,  Page  312,  Vol.  I. 

REED,  THOMAS  B.— 

Address  on  National  Issues,  Page  321,  Vol.  V. 

ROOSEVELT,  THEODORE — 

Speech  Seconding  the  Nomination  of  McKinley,  Page  243, 
Vol.  V. 

Ross,  JONATHAN — 

The  Nation's  Relation  to  its  Island  Possessions,  Page  277,. 
Vol.  VI. 

RUTLEDGE,  JOHN — 

Speech  to  the  General  Assembly,  Page  187,  Vol.  I. 

SCHURZ,  CARL — 

The  Policy  of  Imperialism,  Page  145,  Vol.  IV. 

SHERMAN,  JOHN — 

On  Silver  Coinage  and  Treasury  Notes,  Page  65,  Vol.  V. 

SHERMAN,  WILLIAM  T. — 

The  Army  and  Navy,  Page  26,  Vol.  V. 

<v-       STEVENS,  THADDEUS — 

Againts   Webster   and   Northern   Compromisers,    Page   48, 

Vol.  IV. 
The  Issue  Against  Andrew  Johnson,  Page  59,  Vol.  IV. 

STORY,  JOSEPH — 

Characteristics  of  the  Age,  Page  57,  Vol.  III. 

SUMNER,  CHARLES — 

On  the  Crime  Against  Kansas,  Page  171,  Vol.  V. 

TECUMSEH — 

Speech  at  Vincennes,  Page  194,  Vol.  II. 
Speech  to  General  Proctor,  Page  195,  Vol.  II. 

TELLER,  HENRY  M. — 

On  Porto  Rico,  Page  299,  Vol.  VI. 

TILDEN,  SAMUEL  J. — 

Address  on  Administrative  Reform,  Page  226,  Vol.  V. 

TWAIN,  MARK — 

NEW  England  Weather,  Page  321,  Vol.  IV. 


IO  CONTENTS. 

VANCE,  ZEBULON  B. — 

The  Slavery  Question,  Page  288,  Vol.  VI. 

VEST,  GEORGE  G. — 

On  Indian  Schools,  Page  328,  Vol.  VI. 

VOORHEES,  DANIEL  W. — 

Defence  of  John  E.  Cook,  Page  116,  Vol.  IV. 
WARREN,  JOSEPH — 

Oration  on  the  Boston  Massacre,  Page  215,  Vol.  I. 

WASHINGTON,  GEORGE — 

First  Inaugural  Address,  Page  59,  Vol.  I. 
Farewell  Address,  Page  65,  Vol.  I. 

WATTERSON,  HENRY — 

National  Problems  Discussed,  Page  340,  Vol.  VI 

WEBSTER,  DANIEL — 

The  Reply  to  Hayne,  Page  126,  Vol.  III. 

Laying  the  Corner  Stone  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  Pa^e 

233,  Vol.  III. 

At  Plymouth,  in  1820,  Page  260,  Vol.  III. 
Adams  and  Jefferson,  Page  264,  Vol.  III. 

WHITE,  ANDREW  D. — 

The  Apostle  of  Peace  Among  the  Nations,  Page  26,  Vol.  VI. 
WIRT,  WILLIAM — 

Speech  in  the  Trial  of  Aaron  Burr,  Page  278,  Vol.  II. 


LIST   OF   PORTRAITS. 


VOLUME  ONE — 

Col.  A.  K.  McClure,  Frontispiece. 
George  Washington,  Page  78. 
Patrick  Henry,  Page  126. 
J.  C.  Calhoun,  Page  264. 

VOLUME  Two — 

Abraham  Lincoln,  Frontispiece. 
Edw.  Everett,  Page  90. 
Charles  Sumner,  Page  196. 
Jefferson  Davis,  Page  282. 

VOLUME  THREE — 

Samuel  Houston,  Frontispiece. 
William  M.  Evarts,  Page  90. 
Daniel  Webster,  Page  186. 
Joseph  H.  Hawley,  Page  330. 

VOLUME  FOUR — 

William  McKinley,  Frontispiece. 
Benjamin  Harrison,  Page  88. 
James  A.  Garfield,  Page  194. 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  Page  280. 

VOLUME  FIVE — 

James  G.  Elaine,  Frontispiece. 
Henry  Watterson,  Page  154. 
William  J.  Bryan,  Page  260. 
Thomas  B.  Reed,  Page  330. 

VOLUME  Six — 

George  F.  Hoar,  Frontispiece. 
Joseph  H.  Choate,  Page  90. 
Horace  Greeley,  Page   170. 
Grover  Cleveland,  Page  266. 


EDITORIAL   FOREWORD. 


"Oratory,"  said  Abraham  Lincoln,  "is  the  great 
power  that  moves  nations  to  do  and  dare;  it  was 
oratory  that  wrecked  Rome  and  made  Christianity 
live."  None  of  our  public  men  better  understand 
the  power  of  oratory  than  did  Lincoln,  and  he  esti 
mated  it  from  its  highest  plane.  He  would  not  have 
been  a  great  orator  in  Rome  when  Roman  people 
were  swayed  by  the  impassioned  eloquence  of  their 
orators  to  deify  to-day  and  crucify  to-morrow,  but 
he  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  American  orators  of 
the  rare  type  that  always  appeals  to  the  considerate 
judgment  of  mankind. 

The  power  of  the  impassioned  oratory  that  swayed 
the  ancients  in  the  days  of  Demosthenes  has  been 
impaired  by  the  growing  in  culture  and  thoughtful- 
ness  of  the  people  of  all  nations.  There  are  occa 
sions  when  it  is  yet  most  appropriate  and  impressive, 
but  they  are  rare.  It  at  times  asserts  itself  in  great 
trials  in  our  courts  of  justice,  but  its  impressions 
speedily  perish,  unless  they  appeal  to  some  enduring 
human  sympathy. 

Senator  Depew  truthfully  says,  "Eloquence  is 
the  master  element  in  politics,"  but  political  oratory 
in  this  country,  like  the  political  oratory  of  every 
other  civilized  country  of  the  world,  has  materially 
changed  in  its  most  effective  attributes.  In  the 
days  of  Thomas  Corwin  of  Ohio,  and  Sargent  S. 
Prentiss  of  Mississippi,  the  political  orator  was  the 
sole  dependence  of  political  parties.  The  news 
paper  was  then  a  luxury  and  did  not  reach  the  masses 
of  the  people.  The  "bustlings"  was,  therefore, 


14  EDITORIAL     FOREWORD. 

the  only  medium  by  which  the  people  could  be 
taught.  Education  was  greatly  circumscribed, 
being  accessible  on  a  liberal  scale  only  to  the  few, 
and  it  was  a  period  in  the  history  of  our  country 
that  developed  a  class  of  orators  and  a  type  of 
oratory,  trained  in  all  the  arts  of  appealing  to  ignor 
ance  and  prejudice,  that  has  been  gradually  sup 
planted  by  a  much  higher  standard  of  disputation, 
although  often  not  so  fascinating  to  a  popular 
assembly. 

The  orators  of  the  early  days  of  this  country, 
like  the  orators  of  Rome  and  Greece,  had  but  one 
great  study,  and  that  was  to  sway  multitudes  by 
mingled  eloquence,  pathos,  humor  and  invective. 
Had  Corwin  or  Prentiss  delivered  a  sober  address 
on  any  great  political  occasion  such  as  Abraham 
Lincoln  delivered  to  the  Republican  State  Conven 
tion  of  Illinois  in  1858,  when  he  was  unanimously 
nominated  for  United  States  Senator,  such  a  deliv 
erance  would  have  fallen  upon  heedless  ears  and 
entirely  without  responsive  enthusiasm. 

The  newspaper  that  now  reaches  everywhere  and 
is  the  daily  teacher  in  almost  every  home;  the 
school  that,  as  a  rule,  is  open  and  free  to  all  regard 
less  of  race  or  circumstances;  the  college  that  now 
gathers  its  pupils  from  every  section  and  class;  the 
railway  that  now  peals  out  the  hoarse  music  of  the 
iron  horse  over  hill  and  valley  in  every  part  of  the 
country;  the  swift  greyhounds  of  the  ocean,  which 
annihilate  space  in  great  centers  of  sea  travel,  and 
the  multiplicity  of  books  and  libraries  which  reach 
into  almost  every  village  and  are  thus  brought 
within  the  range  of  almost  every  household,  have 
advanced  intelligence  and  thoughtfulness,  and  man 
hood  and  womanhood,  in  our  happy  green  land  to 
an  extent  that  has  largely  shorn  impassioned  oratory 
of  its  locks  and  measurably  destroyed  it  as  an  agent 
in  the  great  wrork  of  teaching  the  American  people. 


EDITORIAL     FOREWORD.  15 

The  impassioned  oratory  that  in  olden  times  was 
solely  relied  upon  to  sway  the  multitude,  has  had  a 
full  share  in  the  wonderful  advancement  of  the 
American  people.  It  is  less  potent  now  than  half  a 
century  or  more  ago,  but  it  remains  as  an  important 
feature  of  oratory  among  all  the  people  of  the  earth. 
Patrick  Henry  gave  the  most  exquisite  illustration 
of  it  that  we  have  in  our  history.  Others  have 
probably  spoken  as  eloquently  and  as  earnestly 
as  he  did,  but  the  theme  that  called  out  the  burning 
eloquence  of  Henry  is  one  that  enlists  the  sympathies 
of  all  classes  and  conditions  throughout  our  great 
Republic,  and  must  continue  to  do  so  while  our  free 
institutions  are  maintained ;  and  every  pupil  of  our 
schools  has  been,  is  to-day  and  ever  will  be  familiar 
with  his  immortal  utterance,  "Give  me  liberty  or 
give  me  death  ! ' ' 

But  the  impassioned  oratory  of  Henry  and  others 
never  could  have  organized  the  great  Revolution 
and  founded  the  noblest  government  of  the  world. 
It  required  the  sober  utterances  of  the  Adamses,  of 
Franklin,  of  Madison,  of  Marshall  and  others,  to 
appeal  to  the  convictions  of  the  people  and  unite 
the  colonies  in  the  desperate  effort  to  throw  off  the 
English  yoke. 

None  of  -our  many  eminently  distinguished  pub 
lic  men  equaled  Henry  Clay  in  the  impassioned  ora 
tory  that  swayed  the  multitude,  but  Clay  was  much 
more  than  a  mere  orator.  His  greatest  oratorical 
efforts  were  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  where  he  was  one  of  the  most  skilful  and 
powerful  of  disputants.  Webster  was  the  most 
forceful  in  argument  of  all  our  public  men,  but  he 
cultivated  none  of  the  arts  of  oratory.  His  manner 
was  as  simple  as  the  style  of  his  expression,  but  he 
stands  out  single  and  alone  as  the  greatest  intellect 
ual  force  of  American  statesmanship.  Clay  swayed 
audiences  not  only  because  he  was  generally  the 


1 6  EDITORIAL     FOREWORD. 

idol  of  his  auditors,  but  because  his  utterances  were 
as  forceful  as  they  were  charming,  but  Webster  awed 
the  masses  who  heard  him  into  reverence  by  his 
ponderous  intellectual  mastery,  and  was  greater 
than  Clay  in  the  discussion  of  any  abstruse  legal  or 
political  question  before  a  judicial  or  deliberative 
tribunal. 

Elaine  was  the  most  magnetic  of  our  great  ora 
tors  since  the  reign  of  Clay.  He  was  brilliant,  sym 
pathetic,  audacious  and  when  aroused,  carried  his 
audience  by  storm,  but  he  was  not  the  greatest  of 
our  political  disputants,  for  the  disputant  and  the 
orator  often  essentially  differ  in  attribute  and 
achievement.  Conkling  was  grand,  imperious  and 
cogent,  and  on  every  occasion  that  called  out  his 
greater  qualities  his  orations  were  most  impressive 
and  well  remembered.  His  nomination  of  Grant  in 
the  Republican  National  Convention  of  1880  will 
ever  be  remembered  by  all  who  heard  it,  as  long  as 
memory  remains  to  them.  It  had  all  the  elegant 
polish  of  oratory,  and  would  have  been  a  most  im 
pressive  deliverance  to  any  assembly  that  was  open 
to  deliberation  on  the  subject  of  nominating  the 
President;  but  in  that  contest  between  Grant  and 
Blaine,  it  could  be  said  of  them  as  was  once  said  of 
Rome,  that  "  Caesar  had  a  party  and  Antony  a  party, 
but  Rome  had  none." 

The  most  profoundly  impressive  speech  I  ever 
heard  was  that  of  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  nominating 
Blaine  for  President  in  the  Cincinnati  convention  of 
1876.  It  was  delivered  to  a  convention  a  majority 
of  whose  delegates  were  largely  or  measurably  in 
sympathy  with  Blaine,  and  its  effect  upon  the  assem 
bled  delegates  was  so  great  and  so  clearly  visible, 
that  the  opponents  of  Blaine  were  compelled  to 
resort  to  the  most  desperate  measures  to  prevent  a 
ballot  for  President  during  the  day. 

Daniel  Dougherty's  speech  nominating  Hancock 


EDITORIAL     FOREWORD.  1 7 

for  President  in  the  Democratic  National  Convention 
of  1880,  was  one  among  the  very  best  exhibitions  we 
have  had  of  impassioned  American  oratory,  and 
while  it  was  a  more  polished  deliverance  than  that 
of  Ingersoll,  it  was  simply  a  most  exquisite  oration, 
exhibiting  the  highest  art  of  oratory,  but  lacked  the 
rugged  forcefulness  of  Ingersoll' s  appeal  for  Elaine 
or  of  Bourke  Cockran's  able  and  impressive  protest 
against  the  nomination  of  Cleveland  in  the  National 
Convention  of  1892. 

We  have  as  great  orators  to-day  as  we  have  had 
at  any  time  in  the  past  history  of  the  Republic,  but 
conditions  have  vastly  changed  the  relations  be 
tween  orators  and  the  masses  during  the  last  half 
century.  In  oratory  the  mountains  are  just  as  tall 
and  imposing,  but  the  valleys  have  largely  filled  up, 
and  the  distance  in  point  of  intelligence  between  the 
orator  and  the  people  has  been  vastly  lessened. 
The  successful  orator  of  to-day — the  oratory  that 
sways  public  sentiment  and  leads  the  American  peo 
ple  in  ruling  their  own  government,  is  not  the  im 
passioned  oratory  that  for  centuries  swayed  the 
world. 

The  attributes  of  oratory  are  just  as  necessary  now 
as  they  ever  have  been,  but  the  aim  and  efforts  of  the 
successful  orator  of  to-day  are  to  make  themselves 
convincing  disputants  with  all  the  fascinating  em 
bellishments  of  oratory.  The  last  generation  devel 
oped  a  number  of  distinguished  orators  of  this  type. 
Douglass,  Seymour,  Hendricks,  Thurman  and  others 
were  the  most  impressive  Democratic  orators  of  the 
time,  and  Sherman,  Curtis,  Schurz,  Morton,  Carpenter 
and  others  wTere  among  the  most  successful  teachers 
of  Republicanism  on  the  forum.  In  short,  the 
effective  orator  of  this  enlightened  and  progressive 
age  must  be  something  more  than  a  mere  orator  to 
illustrate  the  power  of  oratory,  and  all  our  teachings 


i8 


EDITORIAL     FOREWORD. 


now  tend  to  train  American  oratory  to  the  highest 
standard  of  grandeur  and  power. 

The  study  of  oratory,  and  of  the  great  orations 
alike  of  ancient  and  modern  times,  is  vastly  more 
general  to-day  than  at  any  time  in  the  past  history 
of  the  civilized  world,  and  I  believe  that  this  work 
now  presented  to  the  public,  intelligently  covers 
the  great  American  orations.  It  contains  the  most 
famous  speeches  of  the  leaders  of  all  the  varied 
types  of  American  orators,  and  there  is  no  phase  of 
oratory  that  is  not  given  in  its  very  best  attributes. 
It  is  a  work  especially  adapted  to  the  students  of 
the  present  generation,  old  and  young,  and  I  know 
of  no  work  that  the  intelligent  young  student  could 
study  with  greater  profit.  As  an  educational  work 
it  is,  I  believe,  altogether  the  most  valuable  of  our 
publications  which  can  be  obtained  at  moderate 
cost. 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN.  1 9 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  a  distinguished  American  phi 
losopher,  statesman  and  diplomatist,  born  in  Boston,  Mass., 
Jan.  17,  1726;  died  in  Philadelphia,  April  17,  1790.  He 
learned  the  printer's  trade  in  his  youth,  and  removing  to 
Philadelphia  at  seventeen  he  there  set  up  in  business,  pros 
pered,  and  became  one  of  the  most  influential  men  in  the 
colony  and  prominent  in  promoting  all  enterprises  for  the 
public  welfare.  While  deputy  postmaster-general  he  or 
ganized  a  working  postal  system  for  the  colonies,  and  he  was 
twice  sent  to  London  by  the  colony  of  Pennsylvania  as  its 
agent.  He  was  a  member  of  the  committee  which  drafted 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  was  one  of  the  commis 
sioners  plenipotentiary  to  France,  where  he  became  the  lion 
of  the  hour,  and  signed  the  treaty  of  peace  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  in  1783.  He  also  took  an 
active  part  in  framing  the  National  Constitution  in  1787. 
He  was  an  eminently  shrewd,  far-sighted  writer  and  speaker, 
possessed  of  both  tolerance  and  humor,  and  the  characteris 
tics  of  his  style  may  be  well  perceived  in  his  observations  on 
the  Federal  Constitution,  and  the  Dangers  of  a  Salaried 
Bureaucracy. 


THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 

DELIVERED    IN    THE    CONVENTION    FOR    FORMING    THE 
CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
PHILADELPHIA,    1787. 

I  CONFESS  that  I  do  not  entirely  approve  of  this  Con 
stitution  at  present ;  but,  sir,  I  am  not  sure  I  shall  never 
approve  it,  for,  having  lived  long,  I  have  experienced 
many  instances  of  being  obliged,  by  better  informa 
tion  or  fuller  consideration,  to  change  opinions  even 
on  important  subjects,  which  I  once  thought  right,  but 


2O  BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN. 

found  to  be  otherwise.  It  is  therefore  that,  the  older  I 
grow,  the  more  apt  I  am  to  doubt  my  own  judgment  of 
others.  Most  men,  indeed,  as  well  as  most  sects  in  re 
ligion,  think  themselves  in  possession  of  all  truth,  and 
ihat  wherever  others  differ  from  them,  it  is  so  far  error. 
Steele,  a  Protestant,  in  a  dedication,  tells  the  Pope  that 
the  only  difference  between  our  two  churches  in  their 
opinions  of  the  certainty  of  their  doctrine  is,  the  Romish 
Church  is  infallible,  and  the  Church  of  England  is  never 
in  the  wrong.  But,  though  many  private  persons  think 
almost  as  highly  of  their  own  infallibility  as  that  of 
their  sect,  few  express  it  so  naturally  as  a  certain 
French  lady,  who,  in  a  little  dispute  with  her  sister, 
said :  "  But  I  meet  with  nobody  but  myself  that  is  al 
ways  in  the  right." 

In  these  sentiments,  sir,  I  agree  to  this  Constitution, 
with  all  its  faults — if  they  are  such — because  I  think  a 
general  government  necessary  for  us,  and  there  is  no 
form  of  government  but  what  may  be  a  blessing  to  the 
people,  if  well  administered ;  and  I  believe  further,  that 
this  is  likely  to  be  well  administered  for  a  course  of 
years,  and  can  only  end  in  despotism,  as  other  forms 
have  done  before  it,  when  the  people  sihall  become  so 
corrupted  as  to  need  despotic  government,  being  inca 
pable  of  any  other.  I  doubt,  too,  whether  any  other 
convention  we  can  obtain  may  be  able  to  make  a  better 
Constitution;  for,  when  you  assemble  a  number  of 
men,  to  have  the  advantage  of  their  joint  wisdom,  you 
inevitably  assemble  with  those  men  all  their  prejudices, 
their  passions,  their  errors  of  opinion,  their  local  inter 
ests,  and  their  selfish  views.  From  such  an  assembly 
can  a  perfect  production  be  expected  ?  It  therefore  as- 


j 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN.  21 

tonishes  me,  sir,  to  find  this  system  approaching  so 
near  to  perfection  as  it  does ;  and  I  think  it  will  aston 
ish  our  enemies,  who  are  waiting  with  confidence  to 
hear  that  our  counsels  are  confounded  like  those  of  the 
builders  of  Babel,  and  that  our  States  are  on  the  point 
of  separation,  only  to  me*et  hereafter  for  the  purpose 
of  cutting  one  another's  throats.  Thus  I  consent,  sir, 
to  this  Constitution,  because  I  expect  no  better,  and 
because  I  am  not  sure  that  it  is  not  the  best.  The 
opinions  I  have  had  of  its  errors  I  sacrifice  to  the  pub 
lic  good.  I  have  never  whispered  a  syllable  of  them 
abroad.  Within  these  walls  they  were  born,  and  here 
they  shall  die.  If  every  one  of  us,  in  returning  to  our 
constituents,  were  to  report  the  objections  he  has  had 
to  it,  and  endeavor  to  gain  partisans  in  support  of  them, 
we  might  prevent  its  being  generally  received,  and 
thereby  lose  all  the  salutary  effects  and  great  advan 
tages  resulting  naturally  in  our  favor  among  foreign 
nations,  as  well  as  among  ourselves,  from  our  real  or 
apparent  unanimity.  Much  of  the  strength  and  effi 
ciency  of  any  government,  in  procuring  and  securing 
happiness  to  the  people,  depends  on  opinion,  on  the 
general  opinion  of  the  goodness  of  that  government, 
as  well  as  of  the  wisdom  and  integrity  of  its  governors. 
I  hope,  therefore,  for  our  own  sakes,  as  a  part  of  the 
people,  and  for  the  sake  of  our  posterity,  that  we  shall 
act  heartily  and  unanimously  in  recommending  this 
Constitution  wherever  our  influence  may  extend,  and 
turn  our  future  thoughts  and  endeavors  to  the  means 
of  having  it  well  administered. 

On  the  whole,  sir,  I  cannot  help  expressing  a  wish 
that  every  member  of  the  convention  who  may  still 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN. 

have  objection  to  it,  would,  with  me,  on  this  occasion, 
doubt  a  little  of  his  own  infallibility,  and,  to  make  mani 
fest  our  unanimity,  put  his  name  to  this  instrument. 


DANGERS  OF  A  SALARIED  BUREAUCRACY 

DELIVERED    IN    THE    CONVENTION    FOR    FORMING    THE 
CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
PHILADELPHIA,    1787. 

IT  is  with  reluctance  that  J  rise  to  express  a  disap 
probation  of  any  one  article  of  the  plan  for  which  we 
are  so  much  obliged  to  the  honorable  gentlemen  who 
laid  it  before  us.  From  its  first  reading  I  have  borne  a 
good  will  to  it,  and,  in  general,  wished  it  success.  In  this 
particular  of  salaries  to  the  executive  branch,  I  happen 
to  differ ;  and,  as  my  opinion  may  appear  new  and  chi 
merical,  it  is  only  from  a  persuasion  that  it  is  right,  and 
from  a  sense  of  duty,  that  I  hazard  it.  The  committee 
will  judge  of  my  reasons  when  they  have  heard  them, 
and  their  judgment  may  possibly  change  mine.  I  think 
I  see  inconveniences  in  the  appointment  of  salaries;  I 
see  none  in  refusing  them,  but,  on  the  contrary,  great 
advantages. 

Sir,  there  are  two  passions  which  have  a  powerful 
influence  in  the  affairs  of  men.  These  are  ambition 
and  avarice;  the  love  of  power  and  the  love  of  money. 
Separately,  each  of  these  has  great  force  in  prompting 
men  to  action;  but,  when  united  in  view  of  the  same 
object,  they  have,  in  many  mincls,  the  most  violent  ef 
fects.  Place  before  the  eyes  of  such  men  a  post  of 
honor,  that  shall,  at  the  same  time,  be  a  place  of  profit, 
and  thev  will  move  heaven  and  earth  to  obtain  it.  The 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN.  23 

vast  number  of  such  places  it  is  that  renders  the  Brit 
ish  Government  so  tempestuous.  The  struggles  for 
them  are  the  true  source  of  all  those  factions  which  are 
perpetually  dividing  the  nation,  distracting  its  councils, 
hurrying  it  sometimes  into  fruitless  and  mischievous 
wars,  and  often  compelling  a  submission  to  dishonor 
able  terms  of  peace. 

And  of  what  kind  are  the  men  that  will  strive  for 
this  profitable  pre-eminence,  through  all  the  bustle  of 
cabal,  the  heat  of  contention,  the  infinite  mutual  abuse 
of  parties,  tearing  to  pieces  the  best  of  characters  ?  It 
will  not  be  the  wise  and  moderate,  the  lovers  of  peace 
and  good  order,  the  men  fittest  for  the  trust.  It  will 
be  the  bold  and  the  violent,  the  men  of  strong  passions 
and  indefatigable  activity  in  their  selfish  pursuits. 
These  will  thrust  themselves  into  your  government, 
and  be  your  rulers.  And  these,  too,  will  be  mistaken 
in  the  expected  happiness  of  their  situation,  for  their 
vanquished  competitors,  of  the  same  spirit,  and  from 
the  same  motives,  will  perpetually  be  endeavoring  to 
distress  their  administration,  thwart  their  measures, 
and  render  them  odious  to  the  people. 

Besides  these  evils,  sir,  though  we  may  set  out  in  the 
beginning  with  moderate  salaries,  we  shall  find  that 
such  will  not  be  of  long  continuance.  Reasons  will 
never  be  wanting  for  proposed  augmentations;  and 
there  will  always  be  a  party  for  giving  more  to  the 
rulers,  that  the  rulers  may  be  able,  in  return,  to  give 
more  to  them.  Hence,  as  all  history  informs  us,  there 
has  been  in  every  state  and  kingdom  a  constant  kind 
of  warfare  between  the  governing  and  the  governed; 
the  one  striving  to  obtain  more  for  its  support,  and  the 


24  BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

other  to  pay  less.  And  this  has  alone  occasioned  great 
convulsions,  actual  civil  wars,  ending  either  in  dethron 
ing  of  the  princes  or  enslaving  of  the  people.  Gener 
ally,  indeed,  the  ruling  power  carries  its  point,  and  we 
see  the  revenues  of  princes  constantly  increasing,  and 
we  see  that  they  are  never  satisfied,  but  always  in  want 
of  more.  The  more  the  people  are  discontented  with 
the  oppression  of  taxes,  the  greater  need  the  prince  has 
of  money  to  distribute  among  his  partisans,  and  pay 
the  troops  that  are  to  suppress  all  resistance,  and  en 
able  him  to  plunder  at  pleasure.  There  is  scarce  a  king 
in  a  hundred,  who  would  not,  if  he  could,  follow  the 
example  of  Pharaoh — get  first  all  the  people's  money, 
then  all  their  lands,  and  then  make  them  and  their 
children  servants  forever.  It  will  be  said  that  we  do 
not  propose  to  establish  kings.  I  know  it.  But  there 
is  a  natural  inclination  in  mankind  to  kingly  govern 
ment.  It  sometimes  relieves  them  from  aristocratic 
domination.  They  had  rather  have  one  tyrant  than 
five  hundred.  It  gives  more  of  the  appearance  of 
equality  among  citizens ;  and  that  they  like.  I  am  ap 
prehensive,  therefore — perhaps  too  apprehensive — that 
the  government  of  the  States  may,  in  future  times,  end 
in  a  monarchy.  But  this  catastrophe,  I  think,  may  be 
long  delayed,  if  in  our  proposed  system  we  do  not  sow 
the  seeds  of  contention,  faction,  and  tumult,  by  making 
our  posts  of  honor  places  of  profit.  If  we  do,  I  fear 
that,  though  we  employ  at  first  a  number  and  not 
a  single  person,  the  number  will,  in  time,  be  set  aside; 
it  will  only  nourish  the  foetus  of  a  king  (as  the  honor 
able  gentleman  from  Virginia  very  aptly  expressed  it), 
and  a  king  will  the  sooner  be  set  over  us. 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN.  2$ 

It  may  be  imagined  by  some  that  this  is  a  Utopian 
idea,  and  that  we  can  never  find  men  to  serve  us  in  the 
executive  department  without  paying  them  well  for 
their  services.  I  conceive  this  to  be  a  mistake.  Some 
existing  fact  present  themselves  to  me  which  incline 
me  to  a  contrary  opinion.  The  high  sheriff  of  a 
county  in  England  is  an  honorable  office,  but  it  is  not  a 
profitable  one.  It  is  rather  expensive,  and  therefore 
not  sought  for.  But  yet  it  is  executed,  and  well  exe 
cuted,  and  usually  by  some  of  the  principal  gentlemen 
of  the  county.  In  France,  the  office  of  counsellor,  or 
member  of  their  judiciary  parliament,  is  more  honor 
able.  It  is  therefore  purchased  at  a  high  price;  there 
are,  indeed,  fees  on  the  law  proceedings,  which  are 
divided  among  them,  but  these  fees  do  not  amount  to 
more  than  three  per  cent  on  the  sum  paid  for  the  place. 
Therefore,  as  legal  interest  is  there  at  five  per  cent, 
they,  in  fact,  pay  two  per  cent  for  being  allowed  to  do 
the  judiciary  business  of  the  nation,  which  is,  at  the 
same  time,  entirely  exempt  from  the  burden  of  paying 
them  any  salaries  for  their  services.  I  do  not,  how 
ever,  mean  to  recommend  this  as  an  eligible  mode  for 
our  judiciary  department.  I  only  bring  the  instance 
to  show  that  the  pleasure  of  doing  good  and  serving 
their  country,  and  the  respect  such  conduct  entitles 
them  to,  are  sufficient  motives  with  some  minds  to  give 
up  a  great  portion  of  their  time  to  the  public,  withou1* 
the  mean  inducement  of  pecuniary  satisfaction. 

Another  instance  is  that  of  a  respectable  society  whc 
have  made  the  experiment  and  practiced  it  with  succesr 
now  more  than  a  hundred  years.  I  mean  the  Quaker* 
It  is  an  established  rule  with  them  that  they  are  not  ttf 


26  BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN. 

go  to  law,  but  in  their  controversies  they  must  apply  to 
their  monthly,  quarterly,  and  yearly  meetings.  Com 
mittees  of  these  sit  with  patience  to  hear  the  parties, 
and  spehd  much  time  in  composing  their  differences. 
In  doing  this,  they  are  supported  by  a  sense  of  duty 
and  the  respect  paid  to  usefulness.  It  is  honorable  to 
be  so  employed,  but  it  was  never  made  profitable  by 
salaries,  fees,  or  perquisites.  And,  indeed,  in  all  cases 
of  public  service,  the  less  the  profit,  the  greater  the 
honor. 

To  bring  the  matter  nearer  home,  have  we  not  seen 
the  greatest  and  most  important  of  our  offices,  that  of 
general  of  our  armies,  executed  for  eight  years  to 
gether,  without  the  smallest  salary,  by  a  patriot  whom 
I  will  not  now  offend  by  any  other  praise ;  and  this, 
through  fatigues  and  distresses,  in  common  with  the 
other  brave  men,  his  military  friends  and  companions, 
and  the  constant  anxieties  peculiar  to  his  station? 
And  shall  we  doubt  finding  three  or  four  men  in  all  the 
United  States  with  public  spirit  enough  to  bear  sitting 
in  peaceful  council,  for,  perhaps,  an  equal  term,  merely 
to  preside  over  our  civil  concerns,  and  see  that  our  laws 
are  duly  executed  ?  Sir,  I  have  a  better  opinion  of  our 
country.  I  think  we  shall  never  be  without  a  sufficient 
number  of  wise  and  good  men  to  undertake  and  exe 
cute  well  and  faithfully  the  office  in  question. 

Sir,  the  saving  of  the  salaries,  that  may  at  first  be 
proposed,  is  not  an  object  with  me.  The  subsequent 
mischiefs  of  proposing  them  are  what  I  apprehend. 
And,  therefore,  it  is  that  I  move  the  amendment.  If  it 
be  not  seconded  or  accepted,  I  must  be  contented  with 
the  satisfaction  of  having  delivered  my  opinion  frankly 
and  done  my  duty. 


SAMUEL  ADAMS.  2/ 

Adams,  Samuel,  an  American  orator  and  patriot,  born 
in  Boston,  Mass.,  Sept.  27,  1722;  died  there  Oct.  2,  1803. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  disputes  between  the  colonies  and 
the  mother  country  he  was  a  tax  collector  in  his  native 
town,  and  a  well-known  character  in  consequence.  As  the 
troubles  increased  he  took  so  active  a  part  in  fomenting 
opposition  to  Great  Britain  that  he  was  especially  excluded 
from  General  Gage's  proclamation  of  amnesty  in  June,  1775. 
He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress,  a  Signer  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  a  member  of  the  con 
vention  ratifying  the  Constitution  of  Massachusetts.  From 
1794  to  1797  he  was  governor  of  that  State.  His  oratory 
was  of  the  impetuous,  fiery  order,  and  more  immediately 
effective,  therefore,  than  the  more  well-considered,  tempered 
utterances  of  some  of  his  illustrious  contemporaries.  In  his 
famous  speech  on  American  Independence,  which  he  deliv 
ered  in  Philadelphia,  Adams  styled  the  English  "  a  nation 
of  shopkeepers."  As  the  oration  was  translated  into 
French  and  published  in  Paris  it  is  extremely  likely  that 
Napoleon  was  indebted  to  Samuel  Adams  for  his  use  of  the 
famous  phrase. 

AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE. 

Countrymen  and  Brethren  : 

I  WOULD  gladly  have  declined  an  honor  to  which  I  find 
myself  unequal.  I  have  not  the  calmness  and  impar 
tiality  which  the  infinite  importance  of  this  occasion  de 
mands.  I  will  not  deny  the  charge  of  my  enemies,  that 
resentment  for  the  accumulated  injuries  of  our  country 
and  an  ardor  for  her  glory,  rising  to  enthusiasm,  may 
deprive  me  of  that  accuracy  of  judgment  and  ex 
pression  which  men  of  cooler  passions  may  possess. 
Let  me  beseech  you,  then,  to  hear  me  with  caution, 


28  SAMUEL  ADAMS. 

to  examine  your  prejudice,  and  to  correct  the  mistakes 
into  which  I  may  be  hurried  by  my  zeal. 

Truth  loves  an  appeal  to  the  common-sense  of  man 
kind.  Your  unperverted  understandings  can  best  de 
termine  on  subjects  of  a  practical  nature.  The  positions 
and  plans  which  are  said  to  be  above  the  comprehen 
sion  of  the  multitude  may  be  always  suspected  .to  be 
visionary  and  fruitless.  He  who  made  all  men  hath 
made  the  truths  necessary  to  human  happiness  obvious 
to  all. 

Our  forefathers  threw  off  the  yoke  of  Popery  in 
religion ;  for  you  is  reserved  the  honor  of  levelling  the 
popery  of  politics.  They  opened  the  Bible  to  all,  and 
maintained  the  capacity  of  every  man  to  judge  for  him 
self  in  religion.  Are  we  sufficient  for  the  comprehen 
sion  of  the  sublimest  spiritual  truths,  and  unequal  to 
material  and  temporal  ones? 

Heaven  has  trusted  us  with  the  management  of 
things  for  eternity,  and  man  denies  us  ability  to  judge 
of  the  present,  or  to  know  from  our  feelings  the  ex 
perience  that  will  make  us  happy.  :f  You  can  dis 
cern,"  they  say,  "  objects  distant  and  remote,  but 
cannot  perceive  those  within  your  grasp.  Let  us  have 
the  distribution  of  present  goods,  and  cut  out  and  man 
age  as  you  please  the  interests  of  futurity."  This 
day,  I  trust,  the  reign  of  political  protestantism  will 
commence.  We  have  explored  the  temple  of  royalty, 
and  found  that  the  idol  we  have  bowed  down  to  has 
eyes  which  see  not,  ears  that  hear  not  our  prayers,  and 
a  heart  like  the  nether  millstone.  We  have  this  day 
restored  the  Sovereign  to  whom  alone  men  ought  to 
be  obedient.  He  reigns  in  heaven,  and  with  a  propi- 


SAMUEL  ADAMS.  2() 

tious  eye  beholds  his  subjects  assuming  that  freedom 
of  thought  and  dignity  of  self-direction  which  he  be 
stowed  on  them.  From  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun 
may  his  kingdom  come ! 

Having  been  a  slave  to  the  influence  of  opinion  early 
acquired, and  distinctions  generally  received,!  am  ever 
inclined  not  to  despise  but  pity  those  who  are  yet  in 
darkness.  But  to  the  eye  of  reason  what  can  be  more 
clear  than  that  all  men  have  an  equal  right  to  happi 
ness?  Nature  made  no  other  distinction  than  that  of 
higher  and  lower  degrees  of  power  of  mind  and  body. 
But  what  mysterious  distribution  of  character  has  the 
craft  of  statesmen,  more  fatal  than  priestcraft,  in 
troduced  ? 

According  to  their  doctrine,  the  offspring  of  per 
haps  the  lewd  embraces  of  a  successful  invader  shall, 
from  generation  to  generation,  arrogate  the  right  of 
lavishing  on  their  pleasures  a  proportion  of  the  fruits 
of  the  earth,  more  than  sufficient  to  supply  the  wants 
of  thousands  of  their  fellow-creatures ;  claim  authority 
to  manage  them  like  beasts  of  burden,  and,  with  su 
perior  industry,  capacity,  or  virtue,  nay,  though  dis 
graceful  to  humanity,  by  their  ignorance,  intemper 
ance,  and  brutality,  shall  be  deemed  best  calculated  to 
frame  laws  and  to  consult  for  the  welfare  of  society. 

Were  the  talents  and  virtues  which  Heaven  has  be 
stowed  on  men  given  merely  to  make  them  more 
obedient  drudges,  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  follies  and  am 
bition  of  a  few?  Or,  were  not  the  noble  gifts  so 
equally  dispensed  with  a  divine  purpose  and  law, 
that  they  should  as  nearly  as  possible  be  equally 
exerted,  and  the  blessings  of  Providence  be  equally 
enjoyed  by  all?  Away,  then,  with  those  ab- 


3O  SAMUEL   ADAMS. 

surd  systems  which  to  gratify  the  pride  of 
a  few  debase  the  greater  part  of  our  species 
below  the  order  of  men.  What  an  affront  to  the  King 
of  the  universe,  to  maintain  that  the  happiness  of  a 
monster,  sunk  in  debauchery  and  spreading  desolation 
and  murder  among  men,  of  a  Caligula,  a  Nero,  or  a 
Charles,  is  more  precious  in  his  sight  than  that  of  mil 
lions  of  his  suppliant  creatures,  who  do  justice,  love 
mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with  their  God !  No,  in  the 
judgment  of  Heaven  there  is  no  other  superiority 
among  men  than  a  superiority  in  wisdom  and  virtue. 
And  can  we  have  a  safer  model  in  forming  ours? 
The  Deity,  then,  has  not  given  any  order  or  family  of 
men  authority  over  others ;  and  if  any  men  have  given 
it,  they  only  could  give  it  for  themselves.  Our  fore 
fathers,  'tis  said,  consented  to  be  subject  to  the  laws 
of  Great  Britain.  I  will  not,  at  present,  dispute  it, 
nor  mark  out  the  limits  and  conditions  of  their  sub 
mission;  but  will  it  be  denied  that  they  contracted  to 
pay  obedience  and  to  be  under  the  control  of  Great 
Britain  because  it  appeared  to  them  most  beneficial 
in  their  then  present  circumstances  and  situations? 
We,  my  countrymen,  have  the  same  right  to  consult 
and  provide  for  our  happiness  which  they  had  to  pro 
mote  theirs.  If  they  had  a  view  to  posterity  in  their 
contracts,  it  must  have  been  to  advance  the  felicity  of 
their  descendants.  If  they  erred  in  their  expectations 
and  prospects,  we  can  never  be  condemned  for  a  con 
duct  which  they  would  have  recommended ,  had  they 
foreseen  our  present  condition. 

Ye  darkeners  of  counsel,  who  would  make  the  prop 
erty,    lives,    and   religion   of  millions  depend  on  the 


SAMUEL  ADAMS.  31 

evasive  interpretations  of  musty  parchments;  who 
would  send  us  to  antiquated  charters  of  uncertain  and 
contradictory  meaning,  to  prove  that  the  present  gen 
eration  are  not  bound  to  be  victims  to  cruel  and  un 
forgiving  despotism,  tell  us  whether  our  pious  and 
generous  ancestors  bequeathed  to  us  the  miserable 
privilege  of  having  the  rewards  of  our  honesty,  indus 
try,  the  fruits  of  those  fields  which  they  purchased  and 
bled  for,  wrested  from  us  at  the  will  of  men  over 
whom  we  have  no  check.  Did  they  contract  for  us 
that,  with  folded  arms,  we  should  expect  that  justice 
and  mercy  from  brutal  and  inflamed  invaders  which 
have  been  denied  to  our  supplications  at  the  foot  of 
the  throne  ?  Were  we  to  hear  our  character  as  a  peo 
ple  ridiculed  with  indifference  ?  Did  they  promise  for 
us  that  our  meekness  and  patience  should  be  insulted ; 
our  coasts  harassed,  our  towns  demolished  and  plun 
dered,  and  our  wives  and  offspring  exposed  to  naked 
ness,  hunger,  and  death,  without  our  feeling  the  re 
sentment  of  men,  and  exerting  those  powers  of  self- 
preservation  which  God  has  given  us?  No  man  had 
once  a  greater  veneration  for  Englishmen  than  I  en 
tertained.  They  were  dear  to  me  as  branches  of  the 
same  parental  trunk,  and  partakers  of  the  same  re 
ligion  and  laws;  I  still  view  writh  respect  the  remains 
of  the  Constitution  as  I  would  a  lifeless  body  which 
had  once  been  animated  by  a  great  and  heroic  soul. 
But  when  I  am  aroused  by  the  din  of  arms ;  when  I  be 
hold  legions  of  foreign  assassins,  paid  by  Englishmen 
to  imbrue  their  hands  in  our  blood ;  when  I  tread  over 
the  uncoffined  bodies  of  my  countrymen,  neighbors, 
and  friends ;  when  I  see  the  locks  of  a  venerable  father 


32  SAMUEL   ADAMS. 

torn  by  savage  hands,  and  a  feeble  mother,  clasping 
her  infants  to  her  bosom,  and  on  her  knees  imploring 
their  lives  from  her  own  slaves,  whom  Englishmen 
have  allured  to  treachery  and  murder;  when  I  behold 
my  country,  once  the  seat  of  industry,  peace,  and 
plenty,  changed  by  Englishmen  to  a  theatre  of  blood 
and  misery,  Heaven  forgive  me  if  I  cannot  root  out 
those  passions  which  it  has  implanted  in  my  bosom, 
and  detest  submission  to  a  people  who  have  either 
ceased  to  be  human,  or  have  not  virtue  enough  to  feel 
their  own  wretchedness  and  servitude! 

Men  who  content  themselves  with  the  semblance  of 
truth,  and  a  display  of  words,  talk  much  of  our  obliga 
tions  to  Great  Britain  for  protection.  Had  she  a  sin 
gle  eye  to  our  advantage?  A  nation  of  shopkeepers 
are  very  seldom  so  disinterested.  Let  us  not  be 
so  amused  with  words ;  the  extension  of  her  commerce 
was  her  object.  When  she  defended  our  coasts,  she 
fought  for  her  customers,  and  convoyed  our  ships 
loaded  with  wealth,  which  we  had  acquired  for  her  by 
our  industry.  She  has  treated  us  as  beasts  of  burden 
whom  the  lordly  masters  cherish  that  they  may  carry 
a  greater  load.  Let  us  inquire  also  against  whom  she 
has  protected  us?  Against  her  own  enemies  with 
whom  we  had  no  quarrel,  or  only  on  her  account,  and 
against  whom  we  always  readily  exerted  our  wealth 
and  strength  when  they  were  required.  Were  these 
colonies  backward  in  giving  assistance  to  Great  Brit 
ain,  when  they  were  called  upon  in  1739  to  aid  the 
expedition  against  Carthagena?  They  at  that  time 
sent  three  thousand  men  to  join  the  British  army, 
although  the  war  commenced  without  their  consent 


SAMUEL  ADAMS.  33 

But  the  last  war,  'tis  said,  was  purely  American.  This 
is  a  vulgar  error,  which,  like  many  others,  has  gained 
credit  by  being  confidently  repeated.  The  dispute 
between  the  courts  of  Great  Britain  and  France  re 
lated  to  the  limits  of  Canada  and  Nova  Scotia.  The 
controverted  territory  was  not  claimed  by  any  in  the 
colonies,  but  by  the  crown  of  Great  Britain.  It  was 
therefore  their  own  quarrel.  The  infringement  of  a 
right  which  England  had,  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht, 
of  trading  in  the  Indian  country  of  Ohio,  was  another 
cause  of  the  war.  The  French  seized  large  quantities 
of  British  manufactures  and  took  possession  of  a  fort 
which  a  company  of  British  merchants  and  factors  had 
erected  for  the  security  of  their  commerce.  The 
war  was  therefore  waged  in  defence  of  lands  claimed 
by  the  crown,  and  for  the  protection  of  British  proper 
ty.  The  French  at  that  time  had  no  quarrel  with 
America,  and,  as  appears  by  letters  sent  by  their  com- 
mander-in-chief  to  some  of  the  colonies,  wished  to  re 
main  in  peace  with  us.  The  part  therefore,  which  we 
then  took,  and  the  miseries  to  which  we  exposed  our 
selves,  ought  to  be  charged  to  our  affection  to  Britain. 
These  colonies  granted  more  than  their  proportion 
to  the  support  of  the  war.  They  raised,  clothed,  and 
maintained  nearly  twenty-five  thousand  men,  and  so 
sensible  were  the  people  of  England  of  our  great  exer 
tions,  that  a  message  was  annually  Sent  to  the  House 
of  Commons  purporting,  "  that  his  Majesty,  being 
highly  satisfied  with  the  zeal  and  vigor  with  .which  his 
faithful  subjects  in  North  America  had  exerted  them 
selves  in  defence  of  his  Majesty's  just  rights  and  pos 
sessions,  recommends  it  to  the  House  to  take  the  same 


34  SAMUEL   ADAMS. 

into  consideration,  and  enable  him  to  give  them  a 
proper  compensation." 

But  what  purpose  can  arguments  of  this  kind  an 
swer?  Did  the  protection  we  received  annul  our 
rights  as  men,  and  lay  us  under  an  obligation  of  being 
miserable  ? 

Who  among  you,  my  countrymen,  that  is  a  father, 
would  claim  authority  to  make  your  child  a  slave  be 
cause  you  had  nourished  him  in  infancy  ? 

Tis  a  strange  species  of  generosity  which  requires 
a  return  infinitely  more  valuable  than  anything  it 
could  have  bestowed;  that  demands  as  a  reward  for 
a  defence  of  our  property  a  surrender  of  those  inesti 
mable  privileges  to  the  arbitrary  will  of  vindictive 
tyrants,  which  alone  give  value  to  that  very  property. 

Political  right  and  public  happiness  are  different 
words  for  the  same  idea.  They  who  wander  into 
metaphysical  labyrinths,  or  have  recourse  to  original 
contracts,  to  determine  the  rights  of  men,  either  im 
pose  on  themselves  or  mean  to  delude  others.  Pub 
lic  utility  is  the  only  certain  criterion.  It  is  the  test 
wrhich  brings  disputes  to  a  speedy  decision,  and  makes 
its  appeal  to  the  feelings  of  mankind.  The  force  of 
truth  has  obliged  men  to  use  arguments  drawn  from 
this  principle  who  were  combating  it,  in  practice  and 
speculation.  The  advocates  for  a  despotic  government 
and  non-resistance  to  the  magistrate  employ  reasons 
in  favor  of  their  systems  drawn  from  a  consideration 
of  their  tendency  to  promote  public  happiness. 

The  Author  of  Nature  directs  all  his  operations 
to  the  production  of  the  greatest  good,  and  has  made 
human  virtue  to  consist  in  a  disposition  and  conduct 


SAMUEL  ADAMS.  3$ 

which  tends  to  the  common  felicity  of  his  creatures. 
An  abridgement  of  the  natural  freedom  of  men,  by  the 
institutions  of  political  societies,  is  vindicable  only  on 
this  foot.  How  absurd,  then,  is  it  to  draw  arguments 
from  the  nature  of  civil  society  for  the  annihilation 
of  those  very  ends  which  society  was  intended  to  pro 
cure!  Men  associate  for  their  mutual  advantage. 
Hence,  the  good  and  happiness  of  the  members,  that 
is,  a  majority  of  the  members,  of  any  State,  is  the  great 
standard  by  which  everything  relating  to  that  State 
must  finally  be  determined;  and  though  it  may  be 
supposed  that  a  body  of  people  may  be  bound  by  a 
voluntary  resignation  (which  they  have  been  so  in 
fatuated  as  to  make)  of  all  their  interests  to  a  single 
person,  or  to  a  few,  it  can  never  be  conceived  that  the 
resignation  is  obligatory  to  their  posterity;  because  it 
is  manifestly  contrary  to  the  good  of  the  whole  that 
it  should  be  so. 

These  are  the  sentiments  of  the  wisest  and  most 
virtuous  champions  of  freedom.  Attend  to  a  portion 
on  this  subject  from  a  book  in  our  own  defence,  writ 
ten,  I  had  almost  said,  by  the  pen  of  inspiration.  "  I 
lay  no  stress,"  says  he,  "  on  charters ;  they  derive  their 
rights  from  a  higher  source.  It  is  inconsistent  with 
common-sense  to  imagine  that  any  people  would  ever 
think  of  settling  in  a  distant  country  on  any  such  con 
dition,  or  that  the  people  from  whom  they  withdrew 
should  forever  be  masters  of  their  property,  and  have 
power  to  subject  them  to  any  modes  of  government 
they  pleased.  And  had  there  been  expressed  stipula 
tions  to  this  purpose  in  all  the  charters  of  the  colonies, 

they  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  no  more  bound  by  them, 
2-1 


36  SAMUEL  ADAMS. 

than  if  it  had  been  stipulated  with  them  that  they 
should  go  naked,  or  expose  themselves  to  the  incur 
sions  of  wolves  and  tigers." 

Such  are  the  opinions  of  every  virtuous  and  en 
lightened  patriot  in  Great  Britain.  Their  petition  to 
Heaven  is,  "  That  there  may  be  one  free  country  left 
upon  earth,  to  which  they  may  fly,  when  venality, 
luxury,  and  vice  shall  have  completed  the  ruin  of  lib 
erty  there." 

Courage,  then,  my  countrymen,  our  contest  is  not 
only  whether  we  ourselves  shall  be  free,  but  whether 
there  shall  be  left  to  mankind  an  asylum  on  earth  for 
civil  and  religious  liberty.  Dismissing,  therefore, 
the  justice  of  our  cause,  as  incontestable,  the  only 
question  is,  What  is  best  for  us  to  pursue  in  our  pres 
ent  circumstances? 

The  doctrine  of  dependence  on  Great  Britain  is,  I 
believe,  generally  exploded;  but  as  I  would  attend  to 
the  honest  weakness  of  the  simplest  of  men,  you  will 
pardon  me  if  I  offer  a  few  words  on  that  subject. 

We  are  now  on  this  continent,  to  the  astonishment 
of  the  world,  three  millions  of  souls  united  in  one 
cause.  We  have  large  armies,  well  disciplined  and 
appointed,  with  commanders  inferior  to  none  in  mili 
tary  skill,  and  superior  in  activity  and  zeal.  We  are 
furnished  with  arsenals  and  stores  beyond  our  most 
sanguine  expectations,  and  foreign  nations  are  waiting 
to  crown  our  success  by  their  alliances.  There  are  in 
stances  of,  I  would  say,  an  almost  astonishing  Provi 
dence  in  our  favor;  our  success  has  staggered  our 
enemies,  and  almost  given  faith  to  infidels;  so  we  may 
truly  say  it  is  not  our  own  arm  which  has  saved  us. 


SAMUEL  ADAMS.  37 

The  hand  of  Heaven  appears  to  have  led  us  on  to 
be,  perhaps,  humble  instruments  and  means  in  the 
great  Providential  dispensation  which  is  completing-. 
We  have  fled  from  the  political  Sodom;  let  us  not 
look  back,  lest  we  perish  and  become  a  monument  of 
infamy  and  derision  to  the  world.  For  can  we  ever 
expect  more  unanimity  and  a  better  preparation  for  de 
fence;  more  infatuation  of  counsel  among  our  ene 
mies,  and  more  valor  and  zeal  among  ourselves?  The 
same  force  and  resistance  which  are  sufficient  to  pro 
cure  us  our  liberties  will  secure  us  a  glorious  indepen 
dence  and  support  us  in  the  dignity  of  free,  im 
perial  States.  We  canrrot  suppose  that  our  opposi 
tion  has  made  a  corrupt  and  dissipated  nation  more 
friendly  to  America,  or  created  in  them  a  greater  re 
spect  for  the  rights  of  mankind.  We  can  therefore 
expect  a  restoration  and  establishment  of  our  privi 
leges,  and  a  compensation  for  the  injuries  we  have 
received  from  their  want  of  power,  from  their  fears, 
and  not  from  their  virtues.  The  unanimity  and  valcr 
which  will  effect  an  honorable  peace  can  render  a  fu 
ture  contest  for  our  liberties  unriecessary.  He  who 
has  strength  to  chain  down  the  wolf  is  a  madman  if 
he  let  him  loose  without  drawing  his  teeth  and  paring 
his  nails. 

From  the  day  on  which  an  accommodation  takes 
place  between  England  and  America,  on  any  other 
terms  than  as  independent  States,  I  shall  date  the  ruin 
of  this  country.  A  politic  minister  will  study  to  lull 
us  into  security,  by  granting  us  the  full  extent  of  our 
petitions.  The  warm  sunshine  of  influence  would  melt 
down  the  virtue,  which  the  violence  of  the  storm 


38  SAMUEL   ADAMS. 

rendered  more  firm  and  unyielding.  In  a  state  of  tran 
quillity,  wealth,  and  luxury,  our  descendants  would 
forget  the  arts  of  war  and  the  noble  activity  and  zeal 
which  made  their  ancestors  invincible.  Every  art  of 
corruption  would  be  employed  to  loosen  the  bond  of 
union  which  renders 'our  resistance  formidable.  When 
the  spirit  of  liberty  which  now  animates  -our  hearts 
and  gives  success  to  our  arms  is  extinct,  our  numbers 
will  accelerate  our  ruin  and  render  us  easier  victims 
to  tyranny.  Ye  abandoned  minions  of  an  infatuated 
Ministry,  if  peradventure  any  should  yet  remain 
among  us,  remember  that  a  Warren  and  Montgomery 
are  numbered  among  the  dead.  Contemplate  the 
mangled  bodies  of  your  countrymen,  and  then  say, 
What  should  be  the  reward  of  such  sacrifices?  Bid 
ns  and  our  posterity  bow  the  knee,  supplicate  the 
friendship,  and  plow,  and  sow,  and  reap,  to  glut  the 
avarice  of  the  men  who  have  let  loose  on  us  the  dogs 
of  war  to  riot  in  our  blood  and  hunt  us  from  the  face 
of  the  earth?  If  ye  love  wealth  better  than  liberty, 
the  tranquillity  of  servitude  than  the  animating  con 
test  of  freedom — go  from  us  in  peace.  We  ask  not 
your  counsels  or  arms.  Crouch  down  and  lick  the 
hands  which  feed  you.  May  your  chains  sit  lightly 
upon  you,  and  may  posterity  forget  that  ye  were  our 
countrymen ! 

To  unite  the  supremacy  of  Great  Britain  and  the  lib 
erty  of  America  is  utterly  impossible.  So  vast  a  con 
tinent,  and  of  such  a  distance  from  the  seat  of  empire, 
will  every  day  grow  more  unmanageable.  The  motion 
of  so  unwieldy  a  body  cannot  be  directed  with  any 
•despatch  and  uniformity  without  committing  to  the 


SAMUEL  ADAMS.  39 

Parliament  of  Great  Britain  powers  inconsistent  with 
our  freedom.  The  authority  and  .force  which  would 
be  absolutely  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the 
peace  and  good  order  of  this  continent  would  put  all 
our  valuable  rights  within  the  reach  of  that  nation. 

As  the  administration  of  government  requires 
firmer  and  more  numerous  supports  in  proportion  to 
its  extent,  the  burdens  imposed  on  us  would  be. exces 
sive,  and  we  should  have  the  melancholy  prospect  of 
their  increasing  on  our  posterity.  The  scale  of  officers, 
from  the  rapacious  and  needy  commissioner  to  the 
haughty  governor,  and  from  the  governor,  with  his 
hungry  train,  to  perhaps  a  licentious  and  prodigal 
viceroy,  must  be  upheld  by  you  and  your  children. 
The  fleets  and  armies  which  will  be  employed  to  si 
lence  your  murmurs  and  complaints  must  be  supported 
by  the  fruits  of  your  industry. 

And  yet  with  all  this  enlargement  of  the  expense 
and  powers  of  government,  the  administration  of  it 
at  such  a  distance,  and  over  so  extensive  a  terri 
tory,  must  necessarily  fail  of  putting  the  laws  into 
vigorous  execution,  removing  private  oppressions,  and 
forming  plans  for  the  advancement  of  agriculture  and 
commerce,  and  preserving  the  vast  empire  in  any  tol 
erable  peace  and  security.  If  our  posterity  retain  any 
spark  of  patriotism,  they  can  never  tamely  submit  to 
such  burdens.  This  country  will  be  made  the  field  of 
bloody  contention  till  it  gain  that  independence  for 
which  nature  formed  it.  It  is,  therefore,  injustice  and 
cruelty  to  our  offspring,  and  would  stamp  us  with  the 
character  of  baseness  and  cowardice,  to  leave  the  sal- 


4O  SAMUEL  ADAMS. 

vation  of  this  country  to  be  worked  out  by  them  with 
accumulated  difficulty  and  danger. 

Prejudice,  I  confess,  may  warp  our  judgments. 
Let  us  hear  the  decision  of  Englishmen  on  this  subject, 
who  cannot  be  suspected  of  partiality.  "  The  Ameri 
cans,"  they  say,  "  are  but  little  short  of  half  our  num 
ber.  To  this  number  they  have  grown  from  a  small 
body  of  original  settlers  by  a  very  rapid  increase.  The 
probability  is  that  they  will  go  on  to  increase,  and  that 
in  fifty  or  sixty  years  they  will  be  double  our  number, 
and  form  a  mighty  empire,  consisting  of  a  variety  of 
States,  all  equal  or  superior  to  ourselves  in  all  the  arts 
and  accomplishments  which  give  dignity  and  happiness 
to  human  life.  In  that  period  will  they  be  still  bound  to 
acknowledge  that  supremacy  over  them  which  we  now 
claim?  Can  there  be  any  person  who  will  assert  this, 
or  whose  mind  does  not  revolt  at  the  idea  of  a  vast 
continent  holding  all  that  is  valuable  to  it  at  the  dis 
cretion  of  a  handful  of  people  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic?  But  if  at  that  period  this  would  be  unreas 
onable,  what  makes  it  otherwise  now?  Draw  the  line 
if  you  can.  But  there  is  still  a  greater  difficulty." 

Britain  is  now,  I  will  suppose,  the  seat  of  liberty  and 
virtue,  and  its  legislature  consists  of  a  body  of  able 
and  independent  men,  who  govern  with  wisdom  and 
justice.  The  time  may  come  when  all  will  be 
reversed;  when  its  excellent  constitution  of  govern 
ment  will  be  subverted;  when,  pressed  by  debts  and 
taxes,  it  will  be  greedy  to  draw  to  itself  an  increase  of 
revenue  from  every  distant  province,  in  order  to  ease 
its  own  burdens;  when  the  influence  of  the  crown, 
strengthened  by  luxury  and  a  universal  profligacy  of 


SAMUEL  ADAMS.  4! 

manners,  will  have  tainted  every  heart,  broken  down 
every  fence  of  liberty,  and  rendered  us  a  nation  of  tame 
and  contented  vassals;  when  a  general  election  will 
be  nothing  but  a  general  auction  of  boroughs,  and 
when  the  Parliament,  the  grand  council  of  the  nation, 
and  once  the  faithful  guardian  of  the  State,  and  a  ter 
ror  to  evil  ministers,  will  be  degenerated  into  a  body 
of  sycophants,  dependent  and  venal,  always  ready  to 
confirm  any  measures,  and  little  more  than  a  public 
court  for  registering  royal  edicts.  Such,  it  is  possi 
ble,  may,  some  time  or  other,  be  the  state  of  Great 
Britain.  What  will,  at  that  period,  be  the  duty  of  the 
colonies?  Will  they  be  still  bound  to  unconditional 
submission?  Must  they  always  continue  an  appen 
dage  to  our  government  and  follow  it  implicitly 
through  every  change  that  can  happen  to  it? 
Wretched  condition,  indeed,  of  millions  of  freemen 
as  good  as  ourselves !  Will  you  say  that  we  now  gov 
ern  equitably,  and  that  there  is  no  danger  of  such  revo 
lution  ?  Would  to  God  that  this  were  true !  But  you 
will  not  always  say  the  same.  Who  shall  judge 
whether  we  govern  equitably  or  not?  Can  you  give 
the  colonies  any  security  that  such  a  period  will  never 
come?  No.  The  period,  countrymen,  is  already 
come!  The  calamities  were  at  our  door.  The  rod 
of  oppression  was  raised  ever  us.  We  were  roused 
from  our  slumbers,  and'  may  we  never  sink  into  repose 
until  we  can  convey  a  clear  and  undisputed  inheritance 
to  our  posterity !  This  clay  we  are  called  upon  to  give 
a  glorious  example  of  what  the  wisest  and  best  of  men 
were  rejoiced  to  view,  only  in  speculation.  This  day 
presents  the  world  with  the  most  august  spectacle 


42  SAMUEL   ADAMS. 

that  its  annals  ever  unfolded — millions  of  freemen, 
deliberately  and  voluntarily  forming  themselves  into 
a  society  for  their  common  defence  and  common  hap 
piness.  Immortal  spirits  of  Llampden,  Locke,  and 
Sidney,  will  it  not  add  to  your  benevolent  joys  to  be 
hold  your  posterity  rising  to  the  dignity  of  men,  and 
evincing  to  the  world  the  reality  and  expediency  of 
your  systems,  and  in  the  actual  enjoyment  of  that  equal 
liberty,  which  you  were  happy,  when  on  earth,  in  de 
lineating  and  recommending  to  mankind? 

Other  nations  have  received  their  laws  from  con 
querors;  some  are  indebted  for  a  constitution  to  the 
suffering  of  their  ancestors  through  revolving  cen 
turies.  The  people  of  this  country,  alone,  have  for 
mally  and  deliberately  chosen  a  government  for  them 
selves,  and  with  open  and  uninfluenced  consent  bound 
themselves  into  a  social  compact.  Here  no  man  pro 
claims  his.  berth  of  wealth  as  a  title  to  honorable  dis 
tinction,  or  to  sanctify  ignorance  and  vice  with  the 
name  of  hereditary  authority.  He  who  has  most  zeal 
and  ability  to  promote  public  felicity  let  him  be  the 
servant  of  the  public.  This  is  the  only  line  of  dis 
tinction  drawn  by  nature.  Leave  the  bird  of  night 
to  the  obscurity  for  which  nature  intended  him,  and 
expect  only  from  the  eagle  to  brush  the  clouds  with 
his  wings  and  look  boldly  in  the  face  of  the  sun. 

Some  who  would  persuade  us  that  they  have  tender 
feelings  for  future  generations,  while  they  are  insen 
sible  to  the  happiness  of  the  present  are  perpetually 
foreboding  a  train  of  dissensions  under  our  popular 
system.  Such  men's  reasoning  amounts  to  this :  Give 
up  all  that  is  valuable  to  Great  Britain  and  then  you 


SAMUEL   ADAMS.  43 

will  have  no  inducements  to  quarrel  among  yourselves  ; 
or,  suffer  yourselves  to  be  chained  down  by  your  ene 
mies  that  you  may  not  be  able  to  fight  with  your 
friends. 

This  is  an  insult  on  your  virtue  as  well  as  your 
common-sense.  Your  unanimity  this  day  and  through 
the  course  of  the  war  is  a  decisive  refutation  of  such 
invidious  predictions.  Our  enemies  have  already  had 
evidence  that  our  present  Constitution  contains  in  it 
the  justice  and  ardor  of  freedom  and  the  wisdom  and 
vigor  of  the  most  absolute  system. 

When  the  law  is  the  will  of  the  people,  it  will  be 
uniform  and  coherent;  but  fluctuation,  contradiction, 
and  inconsistency  of  councils  must  be  expected  under 
those  governments  where  every  revolution  in  the  min 
istry  of  a  court  produces  one  in  the  State — such  being 
the  folly  and  pride  of  all  ministers,  that  they  ever  pur 
sue  measures  direcily  opposite  to  those  of  their  pre 
decessors. 

We  shall  neither  be  exposed  to  the  necessary  con 
vulsions  of  elective  monarchies,  nor  to  the  want  of 
wisdom,  fortitude,  and  virtue,  to  which  hereditary  suc 
cession  is  liable.  In  your  hands  it  will  be  to  perpetu 
ate  a  prudent,  active,  and  just  legislature,  and  which 
will  never  expire  until  you  yourselves  lose  the  virtues, 
which  gave  it  existence. 

And,  brethren  and  fellow-countrymen,  if  it  was  ever 
granted  to  mortals  to  trace  the  designs  of  Providence,, 
and  interpret  its  manifestations  in  favor  of  their  cause, 
we  may,  with  humility  of  soul,  cry  out,  "  Not  unto  us, 
not  unto  us,  but  to  thy  Name  be  the  praise !  "  The 
confusion  of  the  devices  among  our  enemies,  and  the 


44  SAMUEL  ADAMS. 

rage  of  the  elements  against  them,  have  done  almost 
.as  much  toward  our  success  as  either  our  councils  or 
our  arms. 

The  time  at  which  this  attempt  on  our  liberty  was 
made,  when  we  were  ripened  into  maturity,  had  ac 
quired  a  knowledge  of  war,  and  were  free  from  the  in 
cursions  of  enemies  in  this  country;  the  gradual  ad 
vances  of  our  oppressors  enabling  us  to  prepare  for  our 
defence;  the  unusual  fertility  of  our  lands  and  clemency 
of  the  seasons ;  the  success  which  at  first  attended  onr 
feeble  arms,  producing  unanimity  among  our  friends 
and  reducing  our  internal  foes  to  acquiescence — these 
,are  all  strong  and  palpable  marks  and  assurances  that 
Providence  is  yet  gracious  unto  Zion,  that  it  will  turn 
:away  the  captivity  of  Jacob. 

Our  glorious  reformers  when  they  broke  through 
the  fetters  of  superstition  effected  more  than  could  be 
expected  from  an  age  so  darkened.  But  they  left 
much  to  be  done  by  their  posterity.  They  lopped  off, 
indeed,  some  of  the  branches  of  Popery,  but  they  left 
the  root  and  stock  when  they  left  us  under  the  domi 
nation  of  human  systems  and  decisions,  usurping  the 
infallibility  which  can  be  attributed  to  Revelation 
alone.  They  dethroned  one  usurper  only  to  raise  up 
another;  they  refused  allegiance  to  the  Pope  only  to 
place  the  civil  magistrate  in  the  throne  of  Christ, 
vested  with  authority  to  enact  laws  and  inflict  penal 
ties  in  his  kingdom.  And  if  we  now  cast  our  eyes 
over  the  nations  of  the  earth,  we  shall  find  that,  in 
stead  of  possessing  the  pure  religion  of  the  Gospel, 
they  may  be  divided  either  into  infidels,  who  deny  the 
-truth ;  or  politicians  who  make  religion  a  stalking  horse 


SAMUEL  ADAMS.  45 

for  their  ambition;  or  professors,  who  walk  in  the 
trammels  of  orthodoxy,  and  are  more  attentive  to  tra 
ditions  and  ordinances  of  men  th'an  to  the  oracles  of 
truth. 

The  civil  magistrate  has  everywhere  contaminated 
religion  by  making  it  an  engine  of  policy ;  and  freedom 
of  thought  and  the  right  of  private  judgment,  in  mat 
ters  of  conscience,  driven  from  every  other  corner  of 
the  earth,  direct  their  course  to  this  happy  country  as 
their  last  asylum.  Let  us  cherish  the  noble  guests, 
and  shelter  them  under  the  wings  of  a  universal  tolera 
tion!  Be  this  the  seat  of  unbounded  religious  free 
dom.  She  will  bring  with  her,  in  her  train,  industry, 
wisdom,  and  commerce.  She  thrives  most  when  left 
to  shoot  forth  in  her  natural  luxuriance,  and  asks  for 
human  policy  only  not  to  be  checked  in  her  growth  by 
artificial  encouragements. 

Thus,  by  the  beneficence  of  Providence,  we  shall  be 
hold  our  empire  arising,  founded  on  justice  and  the 
voluntary  consent  of  the  people,  and  giving  full  scope 
to  the  exercise  of  those  faculties  and  rights  which  most 
ennoble  our  species.  Besides  the  advantages  of  liber 
ty  and  the  most  equal  Constitution,  Heaven  has  given 
us  a  country  with  every  variety  of  climate  and  soil, 
pouring  forth  in  abundance  whatever  is  necessary  for 
the  support,  comfort,  and  strength  of  a  nation.  With 
in  our  own  borders  we  possess  all  the  means  of  sus 
tenance,  defence  and  commerce;  at  the  same  time, 
these  advantages  are  so  distributed  among  the  differ 
ent  States  of  this  continent,  as  if  nature  had  in  view 
to  proclaim  to  us :  Be  united  among  yourselves  and  you 
will  want  nothing  from  the  rest  of  the  world. 


46  SAMUEL  ADAMS. 

The  more  northern  States  most  amply  supply  us 
with  every  necessary,  and  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life ; 
with  iron,  timber,  and  masts  for  ships  of  commerce 
or  of  war;  with  flax  for  the  manufacture  of  linen, 
and  seed  either  for  oil  or  exportation. 

So  abundant  are  our  harvests,  that  almost  every 
part  raises  more  than  double  the  quantity  of  grain 
requisite  for  the  support  of  the  inhabitants.  From 
Georgia  and  the  Carolinas  we  have,  as  well  for  our 
own  wants  as- for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  wants  of 
other  powers,  indigo,  rice,  hemp,  naval  stores,  and 
lumber. 

Virginia  and  Maryland  teem  with  wheat,  Indian 
corn,  and  tobacco.  Every  nation  whose  harvest  is 
precarious,  or  whose  lands  yield  not  those  commodi 
ties  which  we  cultivate,  will  gladly  exchange  their 
superfluities  and  manufactures  for  ours. 

We  have  already  received  many  and  large  cargoes 
of  clothing,  military  stores,  etc.,  from  our  commerce 
with  foreign  powers,  and,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the 
boasted  navy  of  England,  we  shall  continue  to  profit 
by  this  connection. 

The  want  of  our  naval  stores  has  already  increased 
the  price  of  these  articles  to  a  great  height,  especially 
in  Britain.  Without  our  lumber,  it  will  be  impossible 
for  those  haughty  islanders  to  convey  the  products  of 
the  West  Indies  to  their  own  ports;  for  awhile  they 
may  with  difficulty  effect  it,  but,  without  our  assist 
ance,  their  resources  soon  must  fail.  Indeed,  the  West 
India  Islands  appear  as  the  necessary  appendages  to 
this  our  empire.  They  must  owe  their  support  to  it, 
and  erelong,  I  doubt  not,  some  of  them  will,  from 


SAMUEL  ADAMS.  4/ 

necessity,  wish  to  enjoy   the   benefit   of   our   protec 
tion. 

These  natural  advantages  will  enable  us  to  remain 
independent  of  the  world,  or  make  it  the  interest  of 
European  powers  to  court  our  alliance,  and  aid  in  pro 
tecting  us  against  the  invasion  of  others.  What  argu 
ment,  therefore,  do  we  want  to  show  the  equity  of 
our  conduct ;  or  motive  of  interest  to  recommend  it  to 
our  prudence?  Nature  points  out  the  path,  and  our 
enemies  have  obliged  us  to  pursue  it. 

If  there  is  any  man  so  base  or  so  weak  as  to  prefer 
a  dependence  on  Great  Britain  to  the  dignity  and  hap 
piness  of  living  a  member  of  a  free  and  independent 
nation,  let  me  tell  him  that  necessity  now  demands 
what  the  generous  principle  of  patriotism  should  have 
dictated. 

We  have  no  other  alternative  than  independence,  or 
the  most  ignominious  and  galling  servitude.  The 
legions  of  our  enemies  thicken  on  our  plains;  desola 
tion  and  death  mark  their  bloody  career;  while  the 
mangled  corpses  of  our  countrymen  seem  to  cry  out 
to  us  as  a  voice  from  heaven : 

"  Will  you  permit  our  posterity  to  groan  under  the 
galling  chains  of  our  murderers?  Has  our  blood 
been  expended  in  vain  ?  Is  the  only  benefit  which  our 
constancy  till  death  has  obtained  for  our  country,  that 
it  should  be  sunk  into  a  deeper  and  more  ignominious 
vassalage?  Recollect  who  are  the  men  that  demand 
your  submission,  to  whose  decrees  you  are  invited  to 
pay  obedience.  Men  who,  unmindful  of  their  rela 
tion  to  you  as  brethren;  of  your  long  implicit  sub 
mission  to  their  laws;  of  the  sacrifice  which  you  and 


48  SAMUEL  ADAMS. 

your  forefathers  made  of  your  natural  advantages 
for  commerce  to  their  avarice ;  formed  a  deliberate  plan 
to -wrest  from  you  the  small  pittance  of  property  which 
they  had  permitted  you  to  acquire.  Remember  that 
the  men  who  wish  to  rule  over  you  are  they  who,  in 
pursuit  of  this  plan  of  despotism,  annulled  the  sacred 
contracts  which  they  had  made  with  your  ancestors; 
conveyed  into  your  cities  a  mercenary  soldiery  to  com 
pel  you  to  submission  by  insult  and  murder;  who 
called  your  patience  cowardice,  your  piety  hypocrisy/7 

Countrymen,  the  men  who  now  invite  you  to  sur 
render  your  rights  into  their  hands  are  the  men  who 
have  let  loose  the  merciless  savages  to  riot  in  the  blood 
of  their  brethren ;  who  have  dared  to  establish  Popery 
triumphant  in  our  land ;  who  have  taught  treachery  to 
your  slaves,  and  courted  them  to  assassinate  your 
wives  and  children. 

These  are  the  men  to  whom  we  are  exhorted  to 
sacrifice  the  blessings  which  Providence  holds  out  to 
us;  the  happiness,  the  dignity,  of  uncontrolled  free 
dom  and  independence. 

Let  not  your  generous  indignation  be  directed 
against  any  among  us  who  may  advise  so  absurd  and 
maddening  a  measure.  Their  number  is  but  few,  and 
daily  decreases;  and  the  spirit  which  can  render  them 
patient  of  slavery  will  render  them  contemptible  ene 
mies. 

Our  union  is  now  complete;  our  Constitution  com 
posed,  established  and  approved.  You  are  now  the 
guardians  of  your  own  liberties.  We  may  justly  ad 
dress  you,  as  the  decemviri  did  the  Romans,  and  say, 
*'  Nothing  that  we  propose  can  pass  into  a  law  without 


SAMUEL  ADAMS.  49 

your  consent.  Be  yourselves,  O  Americans,  the  au 
thors  of  those  laws  on  which  your  happiness  depends." 
You  have  now  in  the  field  armies  sufficient  to  repel 
the  whole  force  of  your  enemies  and  their  base  and 
mercenary  auxiliaries.  The  hearts  of  your  soldiers 
beat  high  with  the  spirit  of  freedom;  they  are  ani 
mated  with  the  justice  of  their  cause,  and  while  they 
grasp  their  swords  can  look  up  to  Heaven  for  assis 
tance.  Your  adversaries  are  composed  of  wretches 
who  laugh  at  the  rights  of  humanity,  who  turn  re 
ligion  into  derision,  and  would,  for  higher  wages, 
direct  their  swords  against  their  leaders  or  their 
country.  Go  on,  then,  in  your  generous  enterprise 
with  gratitude  to  Heaven  for  past  success,  and  confi 
dence  of  it  in  the  future.  For  my  own  part,  I  ask  no 
greater  blessing  than  to  share  with  you  the  common 
danger  and  common  glory.  If  I  have  a  wish  dearer 
to  my  soul  than  that  my  ashes  may  be  mingled  with 
those  of  a  Warren  and  Montgomery,  it  is  that  these 
American  States  may  never  cease  to  be  free  and  inde 
pendent. 
4 


5O  OTIS. 

Otis,  James,  a  famous  American  orator  and  patriot,  born 
at  West  Barnstable,  Mass,  February  5,  1725,  died  at  Andover, 
Mass,  May  23,  1783.  He  was  an  ardent  lover  of  liberty, 
and  in  1761  came  into  general  notice  by  his  eloquent  plead 
ing  against  the  "  Writs  of  Assistance  "  which  the  officers 
of  the  customs  had  applied  for.  Continuing  active  in  his  re 
sistance  to  oppression  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  causing 
the  Stamp  Act  Congress  to  be  called  in  1765.  Threatened 
with  arrest  for  his  bold  course  he,  yet  remained  constant  in 
his  support  of  the  principles  of  liberty  and  in  1767  resigned 
his  office  of  judge  advocate  and  renounced  all  government 
employment.  His  oratory  was  of  a  passionate  strain  and 
his  vehemence  more  than  once  harmed  the  cause  he  had  at 
heart.  As  the  result  of  an  assault  upon  him  in  1769  the 
remainder  of  his  career  was  passed  under  a  mental  cloud. 


AGAINST  "  WRITS  OF  ASSISTANCE." 

SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  SUPERIOR  COURT  IN 
BOSTON,  FEBRUARY,  1761. 

MAY  it  please  your  honors,  I  was  desired  by  one  of 
the  court  to  look  into  the  books,  and  consider  the  ques 
tion  now  before  them  concerning  Writs  of  Assistance. 
I  have,  accordingly,  considered  it,  and  now  appear  not 
only  in  obedience  to  your  order,  but  likewise  in  behalf 
of  the  inhabitants  of  this  town,  who  have  presented 
another  petition,  and  out  of  regard  to  the  liberties  of 
the  subject.  And  I  take  this  opportunity  to  declare 
that,  whether  under  a  fee  or  not  (for  in  such  a  cause 
as  this  I  despise  a  fee),  I  will  to  my  dying  day  oppose 
with  all  the  powers  and  faculties  Gc-d  has  given  me 


OTIS.  51 

all  such  instruments  of  slavery  on  the  one  hand,  and 
villainy  on  the  other,  as  this  writ  of  assistance  is. 

It  appears  to  me  the  worst  instrument  of  arbitrary 
power,  the  most  destructive  of  English  liberty  and  the 
fundamental  principles  of  law,  that  ever  was  found  in 
an  English  law  book.  I  must,  therefore,  beg  your 
honors'  patience  and  attention  to  the  whole  range  of 
an  argument,  that  may,  perhaps,  appear  uncommon  in 
many  things,  as  well  as  to  points  of  learning  that  are 
more  remote  and  unusual ;  that  the  whole  tendency  of 
my  design  may  the  mere  easily  be  perceived,  the  con 
clusions  better  descend,  and  the  force  of  them  be  bet 
ter  felt.  I  shall  not  think  much  of  my  pains  in  this 
cause,  as  I  engaged  in  it  from  principle.  I  was  so 
licited  to  argue  this  cause  as  Advocate-General;  and 
because  I  would  not,  I  have  been  charged  with  deser 
tion  from  my  office.  To  this  charge  I  can  give  a  very 
sufficient  answer.  I  renounced  that  office,  and  I  argue 
this  cause  from  the  same  principle ;  and  I  argue  it  with 
the  greater  pleasure,  as  it  is  in  favor  of  British  liberty, 
at  a  time  when  we  hear  the  greatest  monarch  upon 
earth  declaring  from  his  throne  that  he  glories  in  the 
name  of  Briton,  and  that  the  privileges  of  his  people 
are  dearer  to  him  than  the  most  valuable  prerogatives 
of  his  crown;  and  as  it  is  in  opposition  to  a  kind  of 
power,  the  exercise  of  which,  in  former  periods  of  his 
tory,  cost  one  king  of  England  his  head  and  another 
his  throne.  I  have  taken  more  pains  in  this  cause  than 
I  ever  will  take  again,  although  my  engaging  in  this 
and  another  popular  cause  has  raised  much  resentment. 
But  I  think  I  can  sincerely  declare  that  I  cheer 
fully  submit  myself  to  every  odious  name  for  con- 


52  OTIS. 

science'  sake;  and  from  my  soul  I  despise  all  those 
whose  guilt,  malice,  or  folly  has  made  them  my  foes. 
Let  the  consequences  be  what  they  will,  I  am  deter 
mined  to  proceed.  The  only  principles  of  public  con 
duct  that  are  worthy  of  a  gentleman  or  a  man  are  to 
sacrifice  estate,  ease,  health,  and  applause,  and  even 
life,  to  the  sacred  calls  of  his  country. 

These  manly  sentiments,  in  private  life,  make  the 
good  citizen;  in  public  life,  the  patriot  and  the  hero, 
I  do  not  say  that  when  brought  to  the  test,  I  shall  be 
invincible.  I  pray  God  I  may  never  be  brought  to  the 
melancholy  trial;  but  if  ever  I  should,  it  will  be  then 
known  how  far  I  can  reduce  to  practice  principles 
which  I  know  to  be  founded  in  truth.  In  the  mean 
time  I  will  proceed  to  the  subject  of  this  writ. 

Your  honors  will  find  in  the  old  books  concerning 
the  office  of  a  justice  of  the  peace  precedents  of  gen 
eral  warrants  to  search  suspected  houses.  But  in  more 
modern  books,  you  will  find  only  special  warrants  to 
search  such  and  such  houses,  specially  named,  in  which 
the  complainant  has  before  sworn  that  he  suspects 
his  goods  are  concealed;  and  will  find  it  adjudged  that 
special  warrants  only  are  legal.  In  the  same  manner 
I  rely  on  it,  that  the  writ  prayed  for  in  this  petition, 
being  general,  is  illegal.  It  is  a  power  that  places  the 
liberty  of  every  man  in  the  hands  of  every  petty  officer. 
I  say  I  admit  that  special  writs  of  assistance,  to  search 
special  places,  may  be  granted  to  certain  persons  on 
oath ;  but  I  deny  that  the  writ  now  prayed  for  can  be 
granted,  for  I  beg  leave  to  make  some  observations  on 
the  writ  itself  before  I  proceed  to  other  acts  of  Parlia 
ment.  In  the  first  place  the  writ  is  universal,  being 


OTIS.  53 

directed  "  to  all  and  singular  justices,  sheriffs,  consta 
bles,  and  all  other  officers  and  subjects";  so,  that,  in 
short,  it  is  directed  to  every  subject  in  the  king's  do 
minions.  Every  one  with  this  writ  may  be  a  tyrant; 
if  this  commission  be  legal,  a  tyrant  in  a  legal  manner, 
also,  may  control,  imprison,  or  murder  any  one  within 
the  realm.  In  the  next  place,  it  is  perpetual ;  there  is 
no  return.  A  man  is  accountable  to  no  person  for  his 
doings.  Every  man  may  reign  secure  in  his  petty 
tyranny,  and  spread  terror  and  desolation  around  him, 
until  the  trump  of  the  archangel  shall  excite  different 
emotions  in  his  soul.  In  the  third  place,  a  person 
with  this  writ,  in  the  daytime,  may  enter  all  houses, 
sihops,  etc.,  at  will,  and  command  all  to  assist  him. 
Fourthly,  by  this  writ,  not  only  deputies,  etc.,  but  even 
their  menial  servants,  are  allowed  to  lord  it  over  us. 
What  is  this  but  to  have  the  curse  of  Canaan  with  a 
witness  on  us ;  to  be  the  servant  of  servants,  the  most 
despicable  of  God's  creation?  Now  one  of  the  most 
essential  branches  of  English  liberty  is  the  freedom  of 
one's  house.  A  man's  house  is  his  castle ;  and  while 
he  is  quiet,  he  is  as  well  guarded  as  a  prince  in  his 
castle.  This  writ,  if  it  should  be  declared  legal, 
would  totally  annihilate  this  privilege.  Custom 
house  officers  may  enter  our  houses  when  they  please; 
we  are  commanded  to  permit  their  entry.  Their 
menial  servants  may  enter,  may  break  locks,  bars, 
and  everything  in  their  way;  and  whether  they  break 
through  malice  or  revenge,  no  man,  no  court  can  in 
quire.  Bare  suspicion  without  oath  is  sufficient.  This 
wanton  exercise  of  this  power  is  not  a  chimerical  sug 
gestion  of  a  heated  brain.  I  will  mention  some  facts. 


54  OTIS. 

Mr.  Pew  had  one  of  these  writs,  and  when  Mr.  Ware 
succeeded  him,  he  indorsed  this  writ  over  to  Mr. 
Ware ;  so  that  these  writs  are  negotiable  from  one  offi 
cer  to  another ;  and  so  your  honors  have  no  opportunity 
of  judging  the  persons  to  whom  this  vast  power  is 
delegated.  Another  instance  is  this :  Mr.  Justice  Wai- 
ley  had  called  this  same  Mr.  Ware  before  him,  by  a 
constable,  to  answer  for  a  breach  of  the  Sabbath  day 
acts,  or  that  of  profane  swearing.  As  soon  as  he  had 
finished  Mr.  Ware  asked  him  if  he  had  done.  He  re 
plied  :  "  Yes."  "  Well  then,"  said  Mr.  Ware,  "  I  will 
show  you  a  little  of  my  power.  I  command  you  to 
permit  me  to  search  your  house  for  uncustomed 
goods" ;  and  went  on  to  search  the  house  from  the  gar 
ret  to  the  cellar,  and  then  served  the  constable  in  the 
same  manner !  But  to  show  another  absurdity  in  this 
writ,  if  it  should  be  established,  I  insist  upon  it  that 
every  person,  by  the  I4th  Charles  II.,  has  this  power 
as  well  as  the  custom  house  officers.  The  words  are : 
"  It  shall  be  lawful  for  any  person  or  persons  author 
ized,"  etc.  What  a  scene  does  this  open !  Every  man 
prompted  by  revenge,  ill-humor,  or  wantonness,  to 
inspect  the  inside  of  his  neighbor's  house,  may  get  a 
writ  of  assistance.  Others  will  ask  it  from  self-de 
fence;  one  arbitrary  exertion  will  provoke  another, 
until  society  be  involved  in  tumult  and  in  blood.  .  . 

[John  Adams  says  that  after  this  exordium  Otis 
continued  under  four  several  headings  which  he  gives 
thus — taking  the  exordium  as  the  first :] 

2.  "  He  asserted  that  every  man,  merely  natural, 
was  an  independent  sovereign,  subject  to  no  law  but 


OTIS.  55 

the  law  written  on  his  heart  and  revealed  to  him  by  his 
Maker,  in  the  constitution  of  his  nature,  and  the  in 
spiration  of  his  understanding  and  his  conscience. 
His  right  to  his  life,  his  liberty,  no  created  being 
could  rightfully  contest.  Nor  was  his  right  to  his 
property  less  incontestable.  The  club  that  he  had 
snapped  from  a  tree,  for  a  staff  or  for  defence,  was  his 
own.  His  bow  and  arrow  were  his  own;  if  by  a  peb 
ble  he  had  killed  a  partridge  or  a  squirrel,  it  was  his 
own.  No  creature,  man  or  beast,  had  a  right  to  take 
it  from  him.  If  he  had  taken  an  eel,  or  a  smelt,  or  a 
sculpin,  it  was  his  property.  In  short,  he  sported  upon 
this  topic  with  so  much  wit  and  humor,  and  at  the  same 
time  with  so  much  indisputable  truth  and  reason,  that 
he  was  not  less  entertaining  than  instructive.  He 
asserted  that  these  rights  were  inherent  and  inaliena 
ble  ;  that  they  never  could  be  surrendered  or  alienated, 
but  by  idiots  or  madmen,  and  all  the  acts  of  idiots  and 
lunatics  were  void,  and  not  obligatory,  by  all  the  laws 
of  God  and  man.  Nor  were  the  poor  negroes  for 
gotten.  Not  a  Quaker  in  Philadelphia,  or  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  in  Virginia,  ever  asserted  the  rights-  of  negroes  in 
stronger  terms.  Young  as  I  was,  and  ignorant  as  I 
was,  I  shuddered  at  the  doctrine  he  taught;  and  I 
have  all  my  life  shuddered,  and  still  shudder,  at  the 
consequences  that  may  be  drawn  from  such  premises. 
Shall  we  say  that  the  rights  of  masters  and  servants 
clash,  and  can  be  decided  only  by  force?  I  adore  the 
idea  of  gradual  abolitions!  but  who  shall  decide  how 
fast  or  how  slowly  these  abolitions  shall  be  made? 

3.   "  From  individual  independence  he  proceeded  to 
association.     If  it  was  inconsistent  with  the  dignity 


$6  OTIS. 

of  human  nature  to  say  that  men  were  gregarious  ani 
mals,  like  wild  geese,  it  surely  could  offend  no  delicacy 
to  say  that  they  were  social  animals  by  nature;  that 
there  were  natural  sympathies,  and,  above  all,  the 
sweet  attraction  of  the  sexes,  which  must  soon  draw 
them  together  in  little  groups,  and  by  degrees  in  lar 
ger  congregations,  for  mutual  assistance  and  defence. 
And  this  must  have  happened  before  any  formal  cove 
nant,  by  express  words  or  signs,  was  concluded.  When 
general  councils  and  deliberations  commenced,  the  ob 
jects  could  be  no  other  than  the  mutual  defence  and 
security  of  every  individual  for  his  life,  his  liberty  and 
his  property.  To  suppose  them  to  have  surrendered 
these  in  any  other  way  than  by  equal  rules  and  general 
consent  was  to  suppose  them  idiots  or  madmen,  whose 
acts  were  never  binding.  To  suppose  them  surprised 
by  fraud,  or  compelled  by  force  into  any  other  compact, 
such  fraud  and  such  force  could  confer  no  obligation. 
Every  man  had  a  right  to  trample  it  under  foot 
whenever  he  pleased.  In  short,  he  asserted  these 
rights  to  be  derived  only  from  nature  and  the  Author 
of  Nature;  that  they  were  inherent,  inalienable,  and 
indefeasible  by  any  laws,  pacts,  contracts,  covenants, 
^r  stipulations  which  man  could  devise. 

4.  "These  principles  and  these  rights  were  wrought 
into  the  English  Constitution  as  fundamental  laws. 
And  under  this  head  he  went  back  to  the  old  Saxon 
laws,  and  to  Magna  Charta,  and  the  fifty  confirma 
tions  of  it  in  Parliament,  and  the  executions  ordained 
against  the  violators  of  it,  and  the  national  vengeance 
which  had  been  taken  on  them  from  time  to  time,  down 
to  the  Jameses  and  Charleses;  and  to  the  Petition  of 


OTIS.  57 

Right  and  the  Bill  of  Rights  and  the  Revolution.  He 
asserted  that  the  security  of  these  rights  to  life,  liberty 
and  property  had  been  the  object  of  all  those  struggles 
against  arbitrary  power,  temporal  and  spiritual,  civil 
and  political,  military  and  ecclesiastical,  in  every  age. 
He  asserted  that  our  ancestors  as  British  subjects, 
and  we,  their  descendants,  as  British  subjects,  were 
entitled  to  all  those  rights,  by  the  British  Constitution, 
as  well  as  by  the  law  of  nature  and  our  provincial  char 
ter,  as  much  as  any  inhabitant  of  London  or  Bristol, 
or  any  part  of  England;  and  were  not  to  be  cheated 
out  of  them  by  any  phantom  of  *  virtual  representa 
tion,'  or  any  other  fiction  of  law  or  politics,  or  any 
monkish  trick  of  deceit  and  hypocrisy. 

5.  "  He  then  examined  the  acts  of  trade,  one  by  one, 
and  demonstrated  that  if  they  were  considered  as  rev 
enue  laws,  they  destroyed  all  our  security  of  property, 
liberty  and  life,  every  right  of  nature,  and  the  English 
Constitution,  and  the  diarter  of  the  province.  Here 
he  considered  the  distinction  between  'external  and  in 
ternal  taxes,'  at  that  time  a  popular  and  common-place 
distinction.  But  he  asserted  that  there  was  no  such 
distinction  in  the  theory,  or  upon  any  principle  but 
*  necessity.'  The  necessity  that  the  commerce  of  the 
empire  should  be  under  one  direction  was  obvious. 
The  Americans  had  been  so  sensible  of  this  necessity, 
that  they  had  connived  at  the  distinction  between  ex 
ternal  and  internal  taxes,  and  had  submitted  to  the  acts 
of  trade  as  regulations  of  commerce,  but  never  as  taxa 
tions,  or  revenue  laws.  Nor  had  the  British  Govern 
ment  till  now  ever  dared  to  enforced  them  as  taxations 
or  revenue  laws.  They  had  lain  dorman  in  that  charac- 


58  OTIS. 

ter  for  a  century  almost.  The  Navigation  Act  he  al 
lowed  to  be  binding  upon  us,  because  we  had  consent 
ed  to  it  by  our  own  legislature.  Here  he  gave  a  history 
of  the  Navigation  Act  of  the  ist  of  Charles  II.,  a  plag 
iarism  from  Oliver  Cromwell.  This  act  had  lain  dor 
mant  for  fifteen  years.  In  1675,  after  repeated  letters 
and  orders  from  the  king,  Governor  Leverett  very 
candidly  informs  his  Majesty  that  the  law  had  not  been 
executed  because  it  was  thought  unconstitutional,  Par 
liament  not  having  authority  over  us." 


WASHINGTON.  59 

Washington,  George,  the  first  President  of  the  United 
States,  born  at  Pope's  Creek,  Westmoreland  Co.,  Va., 
Feb.  22,  1732,  died  at  Mount  Vernon,  Va.,  Dec.  14,  1799, 
His  career,  so  familiar  to  every  one,  need  not  be  summarized 
here.  He  possessed  fewer  oratorical  gifts  than  many  of  his 
less  illustrious  contemporaries,  but  on  the  few  occasions 
upon  which  he  was  called  to  address  an  audience  he  spoke 
with  both  dignity  and  impressiveness.  The  most  memorable 
of  these  occasions  were  signalized  by  the  Farewell  Address 
to  his  brother  officers,  and  his  First  Inaugural,  delivered  in 
New  York  in  April,  1789, 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

DELIVERED  IN   NEW  YORK,   APRIL  30,    1789. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senateand  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

AMONG  the  vicissitudes  incident  to  life,  no  evenf 
could  have  filled  me  with  greater  anxieties  than  that  of 
which  the  notification  was  transmitted  by  your  order, 
and  received  on  the  fourth  day  of  the  present  month. 
On  the  one  hand,  I  was  summoned  by  my  country, 
whose  voice  I  can  never  hear  but  with  veneration  and 
love,  from  a  retreat  which  I  had  chosen  with  the  fond 
est  predilection,  and,  in  my  flattering  hopes,  with  an 
immutable  decision  as  the  asylum  of  my  declining 
years;  a  retreat  which  was  rendered  every  day  more 
necessary  as  well  as  more  dear  to  me,  by  the  addition 
of  habit  to  inclination,  and  of  frequent  interruptions 
in  my  health  to  the  gradual  waste  committed  on  it  by 
time ;  on  the  other  hand  the  magnitude  and  difficulty 
of  the  trust  to  which  the  voice  of  my  country  called 


60  WASHINGTON. 

me,  being  sufficient  to  awaken,  in  the  wisest  and  most 
experienced  of  her  citizens,  a  distrustful  scrutiny  into 
his  qualifications,  could  not  but  overwhelm  with  de 
spondence  one  who,  inheriting  inferior  endowments 
from  nature,  and  unpracticed  in  the  duties  of  civil 
administration,  ought  to  be  peculiarly  conscious  of 
his  own  deficiencies.  In  this  conflict  of  emotions,  all 
I  dare  aver  is  that  it  has  been  my  faithful  study  to 
collect  my  duty  from  a  just  appreciation  of  every  cir 
cumstance  by  which  it  might  be  affected.  All  I  dare 
hope  is,  that  if,  in  executing  this  task,  I  have  been  too 
much  swayed  by  a  grateful  remembrance  of  former  in 
stances,  or  by  an  affectionate  sensibility  to  this  tran 
scendent  proof  of  the  confidence  of  my  fellow-citizens, 
and  have  thence  too  little  consulted  my  incapacity  as 
well  as  disinclination  for  the  weighty  and  untried 
cares  before  me,  my  error  will  be  palliated  by  the  mo 
tives  which  misled  me,  and  its  consequences  be  judged 
by  my  country,  with  some  share  of  the  partiality  in 
which  they  originated. 

Such  being  the  impression  under  which  I  have,  in 
obedience  to  the  public  summons,  repaired  to  the 
present  station,  it  would  be  peculiarly  improper  to 
omit,  in  this  first  official  act,  my  fervent  supplications 
to  that  Almighty  Being,  who  rules  over  the  universe, 
who  presides  in  the  councils  of  nations,  and  whose 
providential  aids  can  supply  every  human  defect,  that 
his  benediction  may  consecrate  to  the  liberties  and 
happiness  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  a  govern 
ment  instituted  by  themselves  for  these  essential  pur 
poses,  and  may  enable  every  instrument  employed  in 
its  administration  to  execute,  with  success,  the  func- 


WASHINGTON.  6 1 

tions  allotted  to  his  charge.  In  tendering  this  homage 
to  the  Great  Author  of  every  public  and  private  good, 
I  assure  myself  that  it  expresses  your  sentiments  not 
less  than  my  own;  nor  those  of  my  fellow-citizens  at 
large  less  than  either.  No  people  can  be  bound  to 
acknowledge  and  adore  the  Invisible  Hand  which  con 
ducts  the  affairs  of  men,  more  than  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  Every  step  by  which  they  have  ad 
vanced  to  the  character  of  an  independent  nation 
seems  to  have  been  distinguished  by  some  token  of 
providential  agency.  And,  in  the  important  revolu 
tion  just  accomplished,  in  the  system  of  their  united 
government,  the  tranquil  deliberations  and  voluntary 
consent  of  so  many  distinct  communities,  from  which 
the  event  has  resulted,  cannot  be  compared  with  the 
means  by  which  most  governments  have  been  estab 
lished,  without  -some  return  of  pious  gratitude,  along 
with  a  humble  anticipation  of  the  future  blessings 
which  the  past  seems  to  presage.  These  reflections, 
arising  out  of  the  present  crisis,  have  forced  them 
selves  too  strongly  on  my  mind  to  be  suppressed.  You 
will  join  with  me,  I  trust,  in  thinking  that  there  are 
none  under  the  influence  of  which  the  proceedings 
of  a  new  and  free  government  can  more  auspiciously 
commence. 

By  the  article  establishing  the  Executive  Depart 
ment,  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  President  "  to  recom 
mend  to  your  consideration  such  measures  as  he  shall 
judge  necessary  and  expedient."  The  circumstances 
under  which  I  now  meet  you  will  acquit  me  from  en 
tering  into  that  subject  further  than  to  refer  you  to 
the  great  constitutional  charter  under  which  we  are 


62  WASHINGTON. 

assembled ;  and  which,  in  defining  your  powers,  desig 
nates  the  objects  to  which  your  attention  is  to  be  giv 
en.  It  will  be  more  consistent  with  those  circum 
stances  and  far  more  congenial  with  the  feelings  which 
actuate  me,  to  substitute,  in  place  of  a  recommenda 
tion  of  particular  measures,  the  tribute  that  is  due  to 
the  talents,  the  rectitude,  and  the  patriotism  which 
adorn  the  characters  selected  to  devise  and  adopt 
them.  In  these  honorable  qualifications,  I  behold  the 
surest  pledges,  that  as,  on  one  side,  no  local  preju 
dices  or  attachments,  no  separate  views  nor  party  ani 
mosities,  will  misdirect  the  comprehensive  and  equal 
eye  which  ought  to  watch  over  this  great  assemblage 
of  communities  and  interests — so,  on  another,  that 
the  foundations  of  our  national  policy  will  be  laid  in 
the  pure  and  immutable  principles  of  private  morality ; 
and  the  pre-eminence  of  a  free  government  be  exem 
plified  by  all  the  attributes  which  can  win  the  af 
fections  of  its  citizens  and  command  the  respect  of 
the  world. 

I  dwell  on  this  prospect  with  every  satisfaction 
which  an  ardent  love  for  my  country  can  inspire ; 
since  there  is  no  truth  more  thoroughly  established 
than  that  there  exists,  in  the  economy  and  course  of 
nature,  an  indissoluble  union  between  virtue  and 
happiness — between  duty  and  advantage — between 
the  genuine  maxims  of  an  honest  and  magnanimous 
policy  and  the  solid  rewards  of  public  prosperity  and 
felicity — since  we  ought  to  be  no  less  persuaded  that 
the  propitious  smiles  of  heaven  can  never  be  expected 
on  a  nation  that  disregards  the  eternal  rules  of  order 
and  right  which  heaven  itself  has  ordained — and  since 


WASHINGTON.  63 

the  preservation  of  the  sacred  fire  of  liberty,  and  the 
destiny  of  the  republican  model  of  government,  are 
justly  considered  as  deeply,  perhaps  as  finally  staked, 
on  the  experiment  intrusted  to  the  hands  of  the 
American  people. 

Besides  the  ordinary  objects  submitted  to  your  care, 
it  will  remain  with  your  judgment  to  decide  how  far 
an  exercise  of  the  occasional  power  delegated  by  the 
fifth  article  of  the  Constitution  is  rendered  expedient, 
at  the  present  juncture,  by  the  nature  of  objections 
which  have  been  urged  against  the  system,  or  by  the 
degree  of  inquietude  which  has  given  birth  to  them. 
Instead  of  undertaking  particular  recommendations  on 
this  subject,  in  which  I  could  be  guided  by  no  lights 
derived  from  official  opportunities,  I  shall  again  give 
\vay  to  my  entire  confidence  in  your  discernment  and 
pursuit  of  the  public  good.  For  I  assure  myself  that, 
while  you  carefully  avoided  every  alteration  which 
might  endanger  the  benefits  of  a  united  and  effective 
government,  or  which  ought  to  await  the  future  les 
sons  of  experience,  a  reverence  for  the  characteristic 
rights  of  freemen  and  a  regard  for  the  public  harmony 
will  sufficiently  influence  your  deliberations  on  the 
question  how  far  the  former  can  be  more  impreg- 
nably  fortified,  or  the  latter  be  safely  and  more  ad 
vantageously  promoted. 

To  the  preceding  observations  I  have  one  to  add, 
which  will  be  most  properly  addressed  to  the  House 
of  Representatives.  It  concerns  myself,  and  will 
therefore  be  as  brief  as  possible. 

When  I  was  first  honored  with  a  call  into  the  ser 
vice  of  my  country,  then  on  the  eve  of  an  arduous 


64  WASHINGTON. 

struggle  for  its  liberties,  the  light  in  which  I  contem 
plated  my  duty  required  that  I  should  renounce  every 
pecuniary  compensation.  From  this  resolution  I  have 
in  no  instance  departed.  And  being  still  under  the 
impressions  which  produced  it,  I  must  decline,  as  inap 
plicable  to  myself,  any  share  in  the  personal  emolu 
ments  which  may  be  indispensably  included  in  a  per 
manent  provision  for  the  Executive  Department ;  and 
must  accordingly  pray  that  the  pecuniary  estimates  for 
the  station  in  which  I  am  placed  may,  during  my  con 
tinuation  in  it,  be  limited  to  such  actual  expenditures 
as  the  public  good  may  be  thought  to  require. 

Having  thus  imparted  to  you  my  sentiments,  as  they 
have  been  awakened  by  the  occasion  which  brings  us 
together,  I  shall  take  my  present  leave,  but  not  with 
out  resorting  once  more  to  the  benign  Parent  of  the 
human  race,  in.  humble  supplication,  that,  since  he  has 
been  pleased  to  favor  the  American  people  with  op 
portunities  for  deliberating  in  perfect  tranquillity, 
and  dispositions  for  deciding  with  unparalleled  unan 
imity  on  a  form  of  government  for  the  security  of  their 
union  and  the  advancement  of  their  happiness,  so  his 
divine  blessing  may  be  equally  conspicuous  in  the  en 
larged  views,  the  temperate  consultations,  and  the 
wise  measures  on  which  the  success  of  this  govern 
ment  must  depend. 


WASHINGTON.  65 

FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 

ISSUED  SEPTEMBER   IQ,   1796. 

Friends  and  Fellow-Citizens. 

THE  period  for  a  new  election  of  a  citizen  to  ad 
minister  the  executive  government  of  the  United 
States  being  not  far  distant,  and  the  time  actually  ar 
rived  when  your  thoughts  must  be  employed  in  desig 
nating  the  person  who  is  to  be  clothed  with  that  im 
portant  trust,  it  appears  to  me  proper,  especially  as  it 
may  conduce  to  a  more  distinct  expression  of  the  pub 
lic  voice,  that  I  should  now  apprise  you  of  the  reso 
lution  I  have  formed,  to  decline  being  considered 
among  the  number  of  those  out  of  whom  a  choice  is 
to  be  made. 

I  beg  you,  at  the  same  time,  to  do  me  the  justice 
to  be  assured  that  this  resolution  has  not  been  taken 
without  a  strict  regard  to  all  the  considerations  ap 
pertaining  to  the  relation  which  binds  a  dutiful  citizen 
to  his  country ;  and  that  in  withdrawing  the  tender  of 
service,  which  silence  in  my  situation  might  imply,  I 
am  influenced  by  no  diminution  of  zeal  for  your  future 
interest,  no  deficiency  of  grateful  respect  for  your  past 
kindness,  but  am  supported  by  a  full  conviction  that 
the  step  is  compatible  with  both. 

The  acceptance  of,  and  continuance  hitherto  in,  the 
office  to  which  your  suffrages  have  twice  called  me 
have  been  a  uniform  sacrifice  of  inclination  to  the 
opinion  of  duty  and  to  a  deference  for  what  appeared 
to  be  your  desire.  I  constantly  hoped  that  it  would 


66  WASHINGTON. 

have  been  much  earlier  in  my  power,  consistently  with 
motives  which  I  was  not  at  liberty  to  disregard,  to  re 
turn  to  that  retirement  from  which  I  had  been  reluct 
antly  drawn.  The  strength  of  my  inclination  to  do 
this,  previous  to  the  last  election,  had  even  led  to  the 
preparation  of  an  address  to  declare  it  to  you ;  but  ma 
ture  reflection  on  the  then  perplexed  and  critical  pos 
ture  of  our  affairs  with  foreign  nations,  and  the  unani 
mous  advice  of  persons  entitled  to  my  confidence, 
impelled  me  to  abandon  the  idea. 

I  rejoice  that  the  state  of  your  concerns,  external 
as  well  as  internal,  no  longer  renders  the  pursuit  of  in 
clination  incompatible  with  the  sentiment  of  duty  or 
propriety,  and  am  persuaded,  whatever  partiality  may 
be  retained  for  my  services,  that,  in  the  present  cir 
cumstances  of  our  country,  you  will  not  disapprove  my 
determination  to  retire. 

The  impressions  with  which  I  first  undertook  the 
arduous  trust  were  explained  on  the  proper  occasion. 
In  the  discharge  of  this  trust,  I  will  only  say  that  I 
have,  with  good  intentions,  contributed  toward  the  or 
ganization  and  administration  of  the  government  the 
best  exertions  of  which  a  very  fallible  judgment  was 
capable.  Not  unconscious  in  the  outset  of  the  inferior 
ity  of  my  qualifications,  experience  in  my  own  eyes, 
perhaps  still  more  in  the  eyes  of  others,  has  strength 
ened  the  motives  to  diffidence  of  myself;  and  every 
day  the  increasing  weight  of  years  admonishes  me 
more  and  more  that  the  shade  of  retirement  is  as  ne 
cessary  to  me  as  it  will  be  welcome.  Satisfied  that  if 
any  circumstances  have  given  peculiar  value  to  my 
services,  they  were  temporary,  I  have  the  consolation 


WASHINGTON.  67 

to  believe  that,  while  choice  and  prudence  invite  me  to 
quit  the  political  scene,  patriotism  does  not  forbid  it. 

In  looking  forward  to  the  moment  which  is  intended 
to  terminate  the  career  of  my  public  life,  my  feelings 
do  not  permit  me  to  suspend  the  deep  acknowledg 
ment  of  that  debt  of  gratitude  which  I  owe  to  my  be 
loved  country  for  the  many  honors  it  has  conferred 
upon  me;  still  more  for  the  steadfast  confidence  with 
which  it  has  supported  me;  and  for  the  opportunities 
I  have  thence  enjoyed  of  manifesting  my  inviolable  at 
tachment,  by  services  faithful  and  persevering,  though 
in  usefulness  unequal  to  my  zeal.  If  benefits  have  re 
sulted  to  our  country  from  these  services,  let  it  al 
ways  be  remembered  to  your  praise,  and  as  an  instruc 
tive  example  in  our  annals,  that  under  circumstances 
in  which  the  passions  agitated  in  every  direction,  were 
liable  to  mislead,  amid  appearances  sometimes  dubi 
ous,  vicissitudes  of  fortune  often  discouraging,  in 
situations  in  which  not  infrequently  want  of  success 
has  countenanced  the  spirit  of  criticism,  the  con 
stancy  of  your  support  was  the  essential  prop  of  the 
efforts,  and  a  guarantee  of  the  plans  by  which  they 
were  effected.  Profoundly  penetrated  with  this  idea, 
I  shall  carry  it  with  me  to  my  grave,  as  a  strong  in 
citement  to  unceasing  vows  that  heaven  may  continue 
to  you  the  choicest  tokens  of  its  beneficence ;  that  your 
union  and  brotherly  affection  may  be  perpetual;  that 
the  free  Constitution,  which  is  the  work  of  your 
hands,  may  be  sacredly  maintained;  that  its  adminis 
tration  in  every  department  may  be  stamped  with  wis 
dom  and  virtue;  that,  in  fine,  the  happiness  of  the 
people  of  these  States,  under  the  auspices  of  liberty, 
3-1 


68  WASHINGTON. 

may  be  made  complete  by  so  careful  a  preservation 
and  so  prudent  a  use  of  this  blessing  as  will  acquire  to 
them  the  glory  of  recommending  it  to  the  applause,  the 
affection,  and  adoption  of  every  nation  which  is  yet  a 
stranger  to  it. 

Here,  perhaps,  I  ought  to  stop.  But  a  solicitude  for 
your  welfare,  which  cannot  end  but  with  my  life,  and 
the  apprehension  of  danger,  natural  to  that  solicitude, 
urge  me,  on  an  occasion  like  the  present,  to  offer  to 
your  solemn  contemplation,  and  to  recommend  to  your 
frequent  review,  some  sentiments  which  are  the  re 
sult  of  much  reflection,  of  no  inconsiderable  observa 
tion,  and  which  appear  to  me  all-important  to  the 
permanency  of  your  felicity  as  a  people.  These  will 
be  offered  to  you  with  the  more  freedom,  as  you  can 
only  see  in  them  the  disinterested  warnings  of  a 
parting  friend,  who  can  possibly  have  no  personal  mo 
tive  to  bias  his  counsel.  Nor  can  I  forget,  as  an  en 
couragement  to  it,  your  indulgent  reception  of  my 
sentiments  on  a  former  and  not  dissimilar  occasion. 

Interwoven  as  is  the  love  of  liberty  with  every  liga 
ment  of  your  hearts,  no  recommendation  of  mine  is 
necessary  to  fortify  or  confirm  the  attachment. 

The  unity  of  government  which  constitutes  you  one 
people  is  also  now  dear  to  you.  It  is  justly  so,  for  it 
is  a  main  pillar  in  the  edifice  of  your  real  independ 
ence,  the  support  of  your  tranquillity  at  home,  your 
peace  abroad;  of  your  safety,  of  your  prosperity;  of 
that  very  liberty  which  you  so  highly  prize.  But  as 
it  is  easy  to  foresee  that,  from  different  causes  and 
from  different  quarters,  much  pains  will  be  taken, 
many  artifices  employed,  to  weaken  in  your  minds  the 


WASHINGTON.  69 

conviction  of  this  truth;  as  this  is  the  point  in  your 
political  fortress  against  which  the  batteries  of  in 
ternal  and  external  enemies  will  be  most  constantly 
and  actively  (though  often  covertly  and  insidiously) 
directed,  it  is  of  infinite  moment  that  you  should 
properly  estimate  the  immense  value  of  your  national 
union  to  your  collective  and  individual  happiness ;  that 
you  should  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual,  and  immovable 
attachment  to  it ;  accustoming  yourselves  to  think  and 
speak  of  it  as  of  the  palladium  of  your  political  safety 
and  prosperity;  watching  for  its  preservation  with 
jealous  anxiety;  discountenancing  whatever  may  sug 
gest  even  a  suspicion  that  it  can  in  any  event  be 
abandoned;  and  indignantly  frowning  upon  the  first 
dawning  of  every  attempt  to  alienate  any  portion  of 
our  country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred 
ties  which  now  link  together  the  various  parts. 

For  this  you  have  every  inducement  of  sympathy 
and  interest.  Citizens,  by  birth  or  choice,  of  a  com 
mon  country,  that  country  has  a  right  to  concentrate 
your  affections.  The  name  of  American,  which  be 
longs  to  you  in  your  national  cap'acity,  must  always 
exalt  the  just  pride  of  patriotism  more  than  any  ap 
pellation  derived  from  local  discriminations.  With 
slight  shades  of  difference,  you  have  the  same  relig 
ion,  manners,  habits,  and  political  principles.  You 
have  in  a  common  cause  fought  and  triumphed  togeth 
er;  the  independence  and  liberty  you  possess  are  the 
work  of  joint  counsels,  and  joint  efforts  of  common 
dangers,  sufferings,  and  successes. 

But  these  considerations,  however  powerfully  they 
address  themselves  to  your  sensibility,  are  greatly 


70  WASHINGTON. 

outweighed  by  those  which  apply  more  immediately 
to  your  interest.  Here  every  portion  of  our  country 
finds  the  most  commanding  motives  for  carefully 
guarding  and  preserving  the  union  of  the  whole. 

The  North,  in  an  unrestrained  intercourse  with 
the  South,  protected  by  the  equal  laws  of  a  common 
government,  finds  in  the  productions  of  the  latter 
great  additional  resources  of  maritime  and  commercial 
enterprise  and  precious  materials  of  manufacturing  in 
dustry.  The  South,  in  the  same  intercourse,  bene 
fiting  by  the  agency  of  the  North,  sees  its  agriculture 
grow  and  its  commerce  expand.  Turning  partly  into 
its  own  channels  the  seamen  of  the  North,  it  finds  its 
particular  navigation  invigorated;  and,  while  it  con 
tributes^  in  different  ways  to  nourish  and  increase  the 
general  mass  of  the  national  navigation,  it  looks  for 
ward  to  the  protection  of  a  maritim'e  strength,  to 
which  itself  is  unequally  adapted.  The  East,  in  a  like 
intercourse  with  the  West,  already  finds,  and,  in  the 
progressive  improvement  of  interior  communications 
by  land  and  water,  will  more  and  more  find  a  valuable 
vent  for  the  commodities  which  it  brings  from  abroad, 
or  manufactures  at  home.  The  West  derives  from  the 
East  supplies  requisite  to  its  growth  and  comfort,  and, 
what  is  perhaps  of  still  greater  consequence,  it  must  of 
necessity  owe  the  secure  enjoyment  of  indispensable 
outlets  for  its  own  productions  to  the  weight,  influ 
ence,  and  the  future  maritime  strength  of  the  Atlantic 
side  of  the  Union,  directed  by  an  indissoluble  com 
munity  of  interest  as  one  nation.  Any  other  tenure 
by  which  the  West  can  hold  this  essential  advantage, 
whether  derived  from  its  own  separate  strength,  or 


WASHINGTON.  /I 

from  an  apostate  and  unnatural  connection  with  any 
foreign  power,  must  be  intrinsically  precarious. 

While,  then,  every  part  of  our  country  thus  feels 
an  immediate  and  particular  interest  in  union,  all  the 
parts  combined  cannot  fail  to  find  in  the  united  mass 
of  means  and  efforts  greater  strength,  greater  re 
source,  proportionably  greater  security  from  external 
danger,  a  less  frequent  interruption  of  their  peace  by 
foreign  nations;  and,  what  is  of  inestimable  value, 
they  must  derive  from  union  an  exemption  from  those 
broils  and  wars  between  themselves,  which  so  fre 
quently  afflict  neighboring  countries  not  tied  together 
by  the  same  governments,  which  their  own  rival  ships 
alone  would  be  sufficient  to  produce,  but  which  oppo 
site  foreign  alliances,  attachments,  and  intrigues  would 
stimulate  and  imbitter.  Hence,  likewise,  they  will  avoid 
the  necessity  of  those  overgrown  military  establish 
ments  which,  under  any  form  of  government,  are  in 
auspicious  to  liberty,  and  which  are  to  be  regarded  as 
particularly  hostile  to  republican  liberty.  In  this 
sense  it  is  that  your  union  ought  to  be  considered  as  a 
main  prop  of  your  liberty,  and  that  the  love  of  the 
one  ought  to  endear  to  you  the  preservation  of  the 
other. 

These  considerations  speak  a  persuasive  language 
to  every  reflecting  and  virtuous  mind,  and  exhibit  the 
continuance  of  the  Union  as  a  primary  object  of  pa 
triotic  desire.  Is  there  a  doubt  whether  a  common 
government  can  embrace  so  large  a  sphere  ?  Let  ex 
perience  solve  it.  To  listen  to  mere  speculation  in  such 
a  case  were  criminal.  We  are  authorized  to  hope  that 
a  proper  organization  of  the  whole  with  the  auxiliary 


74  WASHINGTON. 

an  explicit  and  authentic  act  of  the  whole  people,  is 
sacredly  obligatory  upon  all.  The  very  idea  of  the 
power  and  the  right  of  the  people  to  establish  govern 
ment  presupposes  the  duty  of  every  individual  to  obey 
the  established  government. 

All  obstructions  to  the  execution  of  the  laws,  all 
combinations  and  associations,  under  whatever  plaus 
ible  character,  with  the  real  design  to  direct,  control, 
counteract,  or  awe  the  regular  deliberation  and  ac 
tion  of  the  constituted  authorities,  are  destructive  of 
this  fundamental  principle,  and  of  fatal  tendency.  They 
serve  to  organize  faction,  to  give  it  an  artificial  and 
extraordinary  force ;  to  put  in  the  place  of  the  delegat 
ed  will  of  the  nation  the  will  of  a  party,  often  a  small 
but  artful  and  enterprising  minority  of  the  commun 
ity;  and,  according  to  the  alternate  triumphs  of  dif 
ferent  parties,  to  make  the  public  administration  the 
mirror  of  the  ill-concerted  and  incongruous  projects 
of  faction,  rather  than  the  organ  of  consistent  and 
wholesome  plans  digested  by  common  counsels  and 
modified  by  mutual  interests. 

However  combinations  or  associations  of  the  above 
description  may  now  and  then  answer  popular  ends, 
they  are  likely,  in  the  course  of  time  and  things,  to 
become  potent  engines  by  which  cunning,  ambitious, 
and  unprincipled  men  will  be  enabled  to  subvert  the 
power  of  the  people  and  to  usurp  for  themselves  the 
reins  of  government,  destroying  afterward  the  very 
engines  which  have  lifted  them  to  unjust  dominion. 

Toward  the  preservation  of  your  government,  and 
the  permanency  of  your  present  happy  state,  it  is 
requisite,  not  only  that  you  steadily  discountenance 


WASHINGTON.  73 

that  with  Great  Britain,  and  that  with  Spain,  which 
secure  to  them  everything  they  could  desire,  in  re 
spect  to  our  foreign  relations,  toward  confirming  their 
prosperity.  Will  it  not  be  their  wisdom  to  rely  for 
the  preservation  of  these  advantages  on  the  Union  by 
which  they  were  procured  ?  Will  they  not  henceforth 
be  deaf  to  those  advisers,  if  such  they  are,  who  would 
sever  them  from  their  brethren  and  connect  them  with 
aliens? 

To  the  efficacy  and  permanency  of  your  Union,  a 
government  for  the  whole  is  indispensable.  No  alli 
ance,  however  strict,  between  the  parts  can  be  an  ade 
quate  substitute ;  they  must  inevitably  experience  the 
infractions  and  interruptions  which  all  alliances  in  all 
times  have  experienced.  Sensible  of  this  momentous 
truth,  you  have  improved  upon  your  first  essay,  by  the 
adoption  of  a  constitution  of  government  better  calcu 
lated  than  your  former  for  an  intimate  union,  and 
for  the  efficacious  management  of  your  common  con 
cerns.  This  government,  the  offspring  of  our  own 
choice,  uninfluenced  and  unawed,  adopted  upon  full 
investigation  and  mature  deliberation,  completely  free 
in  its  principles,  in  the  distribution  of  its  powers,  unit 
ing  security  with  energy,  and  containing  within  itself 
a  provision  for  its  own  amendment,  has  a  just  claim 
to  your  confidence  and  your  support.  Respect  for 
its  authority,  compliance  with  its  laws,  acquiescence 
in  its  measures,  are  duties  enjoined  by  the  fundamen 
tal  maxims  of  true  liberty.  The  basis  of  our  political 
systems  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  make  and  to 
alter  their  constitutions  of  government.  But  the 
Constitution  which  at  any  time  exists,  till  changed  by 


74  WASHINGTON. 

an  explicit  and  authentic  act  of  the  whole  people,  is 
sacredly  obligatory  upon  all.  The  very  idea  of  the 
power  and  the  right  of  the  people  to  establish  govern 
ment  presupposes  the  duty  of  every  individual  to  obey 
the  established  government. 

All  obstructions  to  the  execution  of  the  laws,  all 
combinations  and  associations,  under  whatever  plaus 
ible  character,  with  the  real  design  to  direct,  control, 
counteract,  or  awe  the  regular  deliberation  and  ac 
tion  of  the  constituted  authorities,  are  destructive  of 
this  fundamental  principle,  and  of  fatal  tendency.  They 
serve  to  organize  faction,  to  give  it  an  artificial  and 
extraordinary  force ;  to  put  in  the  place  of  the  delegat 
ed  will  of  the  nation  the  will  of  a  party,  often  a  small 
but  artful  and  enterprising  minority  of  the  commun 
ity;  and,  according  to  the  alternate  triumphs  of  dif 
ferent  parties,  to  make  the  public  administration  the 
mirror  of  the  ill-concerted  and  incongruous  projects 
of  faction,  rather  than  the  organ  of  consistent  and 
wholesome  plans  digested  by  common  counsels  and 
modified  by  mutual  interests. 

However  combinations  or  associations  of  the  above 
description  may  now  and  then  answer  popular  ends, 
they  are  likely,  in  the  course  of  time  and  things,  to 
become  potent  engines  by  which  cunning,  ambitious, 
and  unprincipled  men  will  be  enabled  to  subvert  the 
pov/er  of  the  people  and  to  usurp  for  themselves  the 
reins  of  government,  destroying  afterward  the  very 
engines  which  have  lifted  them  to  unjust  dominion. 

Toward  the  preservation  of  your  government,  and 
the  permanency  of  your  present  happy  state,  it  is 
requisite,  not  only  that  you  steadily  discountenance 


WASHINGTON.  75 

irregular  oppositions  to  its  acknowledged  authority, 
but  also  that  you  resist  with  care  the  spirit  of  innova 
tion  upon  its  principles,  however  specious  the  pretexts. 
One  method  of  assault  may  be  to  effect,  in  the  forms 
of  the  Constitution,  alterations  which  will  impair  the 
energy  of  the  system,  and  thus  to  undermine  what 
cannot  be  directly  overthrown.  In  all  the  changes  to 
which  you  may  be  invited,  remember  that  time  and 
habit  are  at  least  as  necessary  to  fix  the  true  charac 
ter  of  governments  as  of  other  human  institutions; 
that  experience  is  the  surest  standard  by  which  to  test 
the  real  tendency  of  the  existing  constitution  of  a 
country;  that  facility  in  changes,  upon  the  credit  of 
mere  hypothesis  and  opinion,  exposes  to  perpetual 
change,  from  the  endless  variety  of  hypothesis  and 
opinion;  and  remember,  especially,  that  for  the  ef 
ficient  management  of  your  common  interests,  in  a 
country  so  extensive  as  ours,  a  government  of  as  much 
vigor  as  is  consistent  with  the  perfect  security  of  lib 
erty  is  indispensable.  Liberty  itself  will  find  in  suck 
a  government,  with  powers  properly  distributed  and 
adjusted,  its  surest  guardian.  It  is,  indeed,  little  else 
than  a  name,  where  the  government  is  too  feeble  to 
withstand  the  enterprises  of  faction,  to  confine  each 
member  of  the  society  within  the  limits  prescribed  by 
the  laws,  and  to  maintain  all  in  the  secure  and  tran 
quil  enjoyment  of  the  rights  of  person  and  prop 
erty. 

I  have  already  intimated  to  you  the  danger  of  par 
ties  in  the  state,  with  particular  reference  to  the 
founding  of  them  on  geographical  discriminations. 
Let  me  now  take  a  more  comprehensive  view,  and 


76  WASHINGTON. 

warn  you  in  the  most  solemn  manner  against  the 
'baneful  effects  of  the  spirit  of  party  generally. 

This  spirit,  unfortunately,  is  inseparable  from  our 
nature,  having  its  root  in  the  strongest  passions  of 
the  human  mind.  It  exists  under  different  shapes  in 
all  governments,  more  or  less  stifled,  controlled,  or 
repressed ;  but,  in  those  of  'the  popular  form,  it  is 
seen  in  its  greatest  rankness,  and  is  truly  their  worst 
enemy. 

The  alternate  domination  of  one  faction  over  an 
other,  sharpened  by  the  spirit  of  revenge,  natural  to 
party  dissension,  which  in  different  ages  and  coun 
tries  has  perpetrated  the  most  horrid  enormities,  is 
itself  a  frightful  despotism.  But  this  leads  at  length 
to  a  more  formal  and  permanent  despotism.  The 
disorders  and  miseries  which  result  gradually  incline 
the  minds  of  men  to  seek  security  and  repose  in  the 
absolute  power  of  an  individual ;  and  sooner  or  later 
the  chief  of  some  prevailing  faction,  more  able  or 
more  fortunate  than  his  competitors,  turns  this  dis 
position  to  the  purpose  of  his  own  elevation,  on  the 
ruins  of  public  liberty. 

Without  looking  forward  to  an  extremity  of  this  kind 
(which,  nevertheless,  ought  net  to  be  entirely  out 
of  sight),  the  common  and  continual  mischiefs  of  the 
spirit  of  party  are  sufficient  to  make  it  the  interest  and 
duty  of  a  wise  people  to  discourage  and  restrain  it. 

It  serves  always  to  distract  the  public  councils 
and  enfeeble  the  public  administration.  It  agitates 
the  community  with  ill-founded  jealousies  and  false 
alarms,  kindles  the  animosity  of  one  part  against  an 
other,  foments  occasionally  riot  and  insurrection. 


WASHINGTON.  77 

It  opens  the  door  to  foreign  influence  and  corruption, 
which  finds  a  facilitated  access  to  the  government  it 
self  through  the  channels  of  party  passions.  Thus 
the  policy  and  the  will  of  one  country  are  subjected  to 
the  policy  and  will  of  another. 

There  is  an  opinion  that  parties  in  free  countries 
are  useful  checks  upon  the  administration  of  the  gov 
ernment  and  serve  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of  liberty. 
This  within  certain  limits  is  probably  true;  and  in 
governments  of  a  monarchical  cast,  patriotism  may 
look  with  indulgence,  if  not  with  favor,  upon  the  spirit 
of  party.  But  in  those  of  the  popular  character, 
in  governments  purely  elective,  it  is  a  spirit  not  to  be 
encouraged.  From  their  natural  tendency,  it  is  cer 
tain  there  will  always  be  enough  of  that  spirit  for 
every  salutary  purpose.  And  there  being  constant 
danger  of  excess,  the  effort  ought  to  be  by  force  of 
public  opinion,  to  mitigate  and  assuage  it.  A  fire  not 
to  be  quenched,  it  demands  a  uniform  vigilance  to 
prevent  its  bursting  into  a  flame,  lest,  instead  of 
warming,  it  should  consume. 

It  is  important,  likewise,  that  the  habits  of  think 
ing  in  a  free  country  should  inspire  caution  in  those 
intrusted  with  its  administration,  to  confine  them 
selves  within  their  respective  constitutional  spheres, 
avoiding  in  the  exercise  of  the  powers  of  one  de 
partment  to  encroach  upon  another.  The  spirit 
of  encroachment  tends  to  consolidate  the  powers  of 
all  the  departments  into  one,  and  thus  to  create,  what 
ever  the  form  of  government,  a  real  despotism.  A 
just  estimate  of  that  love  of  power,  and  proneness  to 
abuse  it,  which  predominates  in  the  human  heart,  is 


78  WASHINGTON. 

sufficient  to  satisfy  us  of  the  truth  of  this  position. 
The  necessity  of  reciprocal  checks  in  the  exercise 
of  political  power,  by  dividing  and  distributing  it 
into  different  depositaries,  and  constituting  each 
the  guardian  of  the  public  weal  against  invasions 
by  the  others,  has  been  evinced  by  experiments 
ancient  and  modern ;  some  of  them  in  our  coun 
try  and  under  our  own  eyes.  To  preserve  them  must 
be  as  necessary  as  to  institute  them.  If,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  people,  the  distribution  or  modification 
of  the  constitutional  powers  be  in  any  particular 
wrong,  let  be  corrected  by  an  amendment  in  the 
way  which  the  Constitution  designates.  But  let  there 
be  no  change  by  usurpation;  for  though  this,  in  one 
instance,  may  be  the  instrument  of  good,  it  is  the 
customary  weapon  by  which  free  governments  are  de 
stroyed.  The  precedent  must  always  greatly  over 
balance  in  permanent  evil  any  partial  or  transient 
benefit  which  the  use  can  at  any  time  yield. 

Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to 
political  prosperity,  religion  and  morality  are  indis 
pensable  supports.  In  vain  would  that  man  claim  the 
tribute  of  patriotism,  who  should  labor  to  subvert 
these  great  pillars  of  human  happiness,  these  firm 
est  props  of  the  duties  of  men  and  citizens.  The  mere 
politician,  equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to  re 
spect  and  to  cherish  them.  A  volume  could  not  trace 
all  their  connections  with  private  and  public  felicity. 
Let  is  simply  be  asked:  Where  is  the  security  for 
property,  for  reputation,  for  life,  if  the  sense  of  re 
ligious  obligations  desert  the  oath  which  are  the  instru 
ments  of  investigation  in  courts  of  justice?  And  let 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON, 


WASHINGTON.  79 

us  with  caution  indulge  the  supposition  that  morality 
can  be  maintained  without  religion.  Whatever  may 
be  conceded  to  the  influence  of  refined  education  on 
minds  of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and  experience 
both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  national  morality  can 
prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious  principle. 

It  is  substantially  true  that  virtue  or  morality  is  a 
necessary  spring  of  popular  government.  The  rule, 
indeed,  extends  with  more  or  less  force  to  every 
species  of  free  government.  Who  that  is  a  sincere 
friend  to  it  can  look  with  indifference  upon  attempts 
to  shake  the  foundation  of  the  fabric? 

Promote,  then,  as  an  object  of  primary  importance, 
institutions  for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge. 
In  proportion  as  the  structure  of  a  government  gives 
force  to  public  opinion,  it  is  essential  that  public 
opinion,  should  be  enlightened. 

As  a  very  important  source  of  strength  and  secur 
ity,  cherish  public  credit.  One  method  of  preserving 
it  is  to  use  it  as  sparingly  as  possible,  avoiding  occa 
sions  of  expense  by  cultivating  peace,  but  remember 
ing  also  that  timely  disbursements  to  prepare  for 
danger  frequently  prevent  much  greater  disburse 
ments  to  repel  it,  avoiding  likewise  the  accumulation 
of  debt,  not  only  by  shunning  occasions  of  expense, 
but  by  vigorous  exertion  in  time  of  peace  to  dis 
charge  the  debts  which  unavoidable  wars  may  have 
occasioned,  not  ungenerously  throwing  upon  pos 
terity  the  burden  which  we  ourselves  ought  to  bear. 
The  executions  of  these  maxims  belongs  to  your  rep 
resentatives,  but  it  is  necessary  that  public  opinion 
should  co-operate.  To  facilitate  to  them  the  per- 


8O  WASHINGTON. 

formance  of  their  duty,  it  is  essential  that  you  should 
practically  bear  in  mind  that  toward  the  payment  of 
debts  there  must  be  revenue;  that  to  have  revenue 
there  must  be  taxes;  that  no  taxes  can  be  devised 
which  are  not  more  or  less  inconvenient  and  unpleas 
ant;  that  the  intrinsic  embarrassment  inseparable 
from  the  selection  of  the  proper  objects  (which  is 
always  a  choice  of  difficulties),  ought  to  be  a  decisive 
motive  for  a  candid  construction  of  the  conduct  of 
the  government  in  making  it,  and  for  a  spirit  of  ac- 
quiesence  in  the  measures  for  obtaining  revenue, 
which  the  public  exigencies  may  at  any  time  dictate. 

Observe  good  faith  and  justice  toward  all  nations; 
cultivate  peace  and  harmony  with  all.  Religion  and 
morality  enjoin  this  conduct;  and  can  it  be  that  good 
policy  does  not  equally  enjoin  it?  It  will  be  worthy 
of  a  free,  enlightened,  and,  at  no  distant  period,  a 
great  nation,  to  give  to  mankind  the  magnanimous 
and  too  novel  example  of  a  people  always  guided  by 
an  exalted  justice  and  benevolence.  Who  can  doubt 
that,  in  the  course  of  time  and  things,  the  fruits  of 
such  a  plan  would  richly  repay  any  temporary  advan 
tages  which  might  be  lost  by  a  steady  adherence  to 
it?  Can  it  be  that  Providence  has  not  connected  the 
permanent  felicity  of  a  nation  with  its  virtue?  The 
experiment,  at  least,  is  recommended  by  every  senti 
ment  which  ennobles  human  nature.  Alas !  is  it  ren 
dered  impossible  by  its  vices? 

In  the  execution  of  such  a  plan  nothing  is  more  es 
sential  than  that  permanent,  inveterate  antipathies 
against  particular  nations,  and  passionate  attachments 
ifor  others,  should  be  excluded;  and  that,  in  place  of 


WASHINGTON.  8 1 

them,  just  and  amicable  feelings  toward  all  should 
be  cultivated.  The  nation  which  indulges  to 
ward  another  a  habitual  hatred  or  a  habitual  fondness 
is  in  some  degree  a  slave.  It  is  a  slave  to  its  animosi 
ty  or  to  its  affection,  either  of  which  is  sufficient  to 
lead  it  astray  from  its  duty  and  its  interests.  An 
tipathy  in  one  nation  against  another  disposes  each 
mere  readily  to  offer  insult  and  injury,  to  lay  hold  of 
slight  causes  of  umbrage,  and  to  be  haughty  and  in 
tractable,  when  accidental  or  trifling  occasions  of  dis 
pute  occur.  Hence  frequent  collisions,  obstinate,  enven 
omed,  and  bloody  contests.  The  nation,  prompted 
by  ill-will  and  resentment,  sometimes  impels  to  war 
the  government,  contrary  to  the  best  calculations 
of  policy.  The  government  sometimes  participates  in 
the  national  propensity,  and  adopts  through  passion 
what  reason  would  reject;  at  other  times  it  makes 
the  animosity  of  the  nation  subservient  to  projects 
of  hostility  instigated  by  pride,  ambition,  and  other 
sinister  and  pernicious  motives.  The  peace  often, 
sometimes  perhaps  the  liberty,  of  nations,  has  been 
the  victim. 

So,  likewise,  a  passionate  attachment  of  one  nation 
for  another  produces  a  variety  of  evils.  Sympathy 
for  the  favorite  nation,  facilitating  the  illusion  of  an 
imaginary  common  interest  in  cases  where  no  real 
common  interest  exists,  and  fusing  into  one  the  enmi 
ties  of  the  other,  betrays  the  former  into  a  participa 
tion  in  the  quarrels  and  wars  of  the  latter  without  ade 
quate  inducement  or  justification.  It  leads  also  to 
concessions  to  the  favorite  nation  of  privileges  denied 
to  others  which  is  apt  doubly  to  injure  the  nation  mak- 


82  WASHINGTON. 

ing  the  concessions;  by  unnecessarily  parting  with 
what  ought  to  have  been  retained,  and  by  ex 
citing  jealousy,  ill-will,  and  a  disposition  to  retaliate, 
in  the  parties  from  whom  equal  privileges  are  with 
held.  And  it  gives  to  ambitious,  corrupted,  or  de 
luded  citizens  (who  devote  themselves  to  the  favorite 
nation)  facility  to  betray  or  sacrifice  the  interests  of 
their  own  country,  without  odium,  sometimes  even 
with  popularity;  gilding  with  the  appearance  of  a 
virtuous  sense  of  obligation,  a  commendable  defer 
ence  for  public  opinion,  or  a  laudable  zeal  for  public 
good,  the  base  or  foolish  compliances  of  ambition, 
corruption,  or  infatuation. 

As  avenues  to  foreign  influence  in  innumerable 
ways,  such  attachments  are  particularly  alarming 
to  the  truly  enlightened  and  independent  patriot. 
How  many  opportunities  do  they  afford  to  tamper 
with  domestic  factions,  to  practice  the  arts  of  seduc 
tion,  to  mislead  public  opinion,  to  influence  or  awe 
the  public  councils  ?  Such  an  attachment  of  a  small 
or  weak  toward  a  great  and  powerful  nation  dooms 
the  former  to  be  the  satellite  of  the  latter. 

Against  the  insidious  wiles  of  foreign  influence  (I 
conjure  you  to  believe  me,  fellow-citizens)  the  jeal 
ousy  of  a  free  people  ought  to  be  constantly  awake, 
since  history  and  experience  prove  that  foreign  in 
fluence  is  one  of  the  most  baneful  foes  of  republican 
government.  But  that  jealousy  to  be  useful  must 
be  impartial;  else  it  becomes  the  instrument  of  the 
very  influence  to  be  avoided,  instead  of  a  defence 
against  it.  Excessive  partiality  for  one  foreign  na 
tion  and  excessive  dislike  of  another  cause  those 


WASHINGTON.  83 

whom  they  actuate  to  see  danger  only  on  one  side, 
and  serve  to  veil  and  even  second  the  arts  of  influence 
on  the  other.  Real  patriots  who  may  resist  the  in 
trigues  of  the  favorite  are  liable  to  become  suspected 
and  odious,  while  its  tools  and  dupes  usurp  the  ap 
plause  and  confidence  of  the  people,  to  surrender  their 
interests. 

The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us  in  regard  to  for 
eign  nations  is  in  extending  our  commercial  relations, 
to  have  with  them  as  little  political  connection  as 
possible.  So  far  as  we  have  already  formed  engage 
ments,  let  them  de  fulfilled  with  perfect  good  faith. 
Here  let  us  stop. 

Europe  has  a  set  of  primary  interests  which  to  us 
have  none,  or  a  very  remote  relation.  Hence  she 
must  be  engaged  in  frequent  controversies,  the  causes 
of  which  are  essentially  foreign  to  our  concerns. 
Hence,  therefore,  it  must  be  unwise  in  us  to  impli 
cate  ourselves  by  artificial  ties  in  the  ordinary  vicis 
situdes  of  her  politics,  or  the  ordinary  combinations 
and  collisions  of  her  friendships  or  enmities. 

Our  detached  and  distant  situation  invites  and  en 
ables  us  to  pursue  a  definite  course.  If  we  remain 
one  people  under  an  efficient  government,  the  period 
is  not  far  off  when  we  may  defy  material  injury  from 
external  annoyance ;  when  we  may  take  such  an  atti 
tude  as  will  cause  the  neutrality  we  may  at  any  time 
resolve  upon  to  be  scrupulously  respected;  when  bel 
ligerent  nations,  under  the  impossibility  of  making' 
acquisitions  upon  us,  will  not  lightly  hazard  the  giv 
ing  us  provocation;  when  we  may  choose  peace  or 
war,  as  our  interests,  guided  by  justice,  shall  counsel. 


84  WASHINGTON. 

Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a  situa 
tion?  'Why  quit  our  own  stand  upon  foreign 
ground?  Why,  by  interweaving  our  destiny  with 
that  of  any  part  of  Europe,  entangle  our  peace  and 
prosperity  in  the  toils  of  European  ambition,  rival- 
ship,  interest,  humor  or  caprice? 

It  is  our  true  policy  to  steer  clear  of  permanent 
alliances  with  any  portion  of^the  foreign  world;  so 
far,  I  mean,  as  we  are  now  at  liberty  to  do  it;  for  let 
me  not  be  understood  as  capable  of  patronizing  infi 
delity  to  existing  engagements.  I  hold  the  maxim 
no  less  applicable  to  public  than  to  private  affairs,. 
that  honesty  is  always  the  best  policy.  I  repeat  it, 
therefore  let  those  engagements  be  observed  in  their 
genuine  sense.  But,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  unnecessary 
and  would  be  unwise  to  extend  them. 

Taking  care  always  to  keep  ourselves  by  suitable 
establishments  on  a  respectable  defensive  posture,  we 
may  safely  trust  to  temporary  alliances  for  extraor 
dinary  emergencies. 

Harmony,  liberal  intercourse  with  all  nations,  are  * 
recommended  by  policy,  humanity,  and  interest. 
But  even  our  commercial  policy  should  hold  an  equal 
and  impartial  hand ;  neither  seeking  nor  granting  ex 
clusive  favors  or  preferences;  consulting  the  natural 
course  of  things ;  diffusing  and  diversifying  by  gentle 
means  the  streams  of  commerce,  but  forcing  nothing; 
establishing  (with  powers  so  disposed,  in  order  to 
give  trade  a  stable  course,  to  define  the  rights  of  our 
merchants,  and  to  enable  the  government  to  support 
them)  conventional  rules  of  intercourse,  the  best  that 
present  circumstances  and  mutual  opinion  will  permit,. 


WASHINGTON.  ?$ 

but  temporary,  and  liable  to  be  from  time  to  time  aban 
doned  or  varied,  as  experience  and  circumstances  shall 
dictate ;  constantly  keeping  in  view  that  it  is  folly  in 
one  nation  to  look  for  disinterested  favors  from  an 
other;  that  it  must  pay  with  a  portion  of  its  indepen 
dence  for  whatever  it  may  accept  under  that  charac 
ter  ;  that,  by  such  acceptance,  it  may  place  itself  in  the 
condition  of  having  given  equivalents  for  nominal 
favors,  and  yet  of  being  reproached  with  ingratitude 
for  not  giving  more.  There  can  be  no  greater  error 
than  to  expect  or  calculate  upon  real  favors  from  na 
tion  to  nation.  It  is  an  illusion,  which  experience 
must  cure,  which  a  just  pride  ought  to  discard. 

In  offering  to  you,  my  countrymen,  these  counsels 
of  an  old  and  affectionate  friend,  I  dare  not  hope 
they  will  make  the  strong  and  lasting  impression  I 
could  wish;  that  they  will  control  the  usual  current 
of  the  passions,  or  prevent  our  nation  from  running 
the  course  which  has  hitherto  marked  the  destiny  of 
nations.  But,  if  I  may  even  flatter  myself  that  they 
may  be  productive  of  some  partial  benefit,  some  occa 
sional  good;  that  they  may  now  and  then  recur  to 
moderate  the  fury  of  party  spirit,  to  warn  against  the 
mischiefs  of  foreign  intrigue,  to  guard  against  the 
impostures  of  pretended  patriotism ;  this  hope  will  be 
a  full  recompense  for  the  solicitude  for  your  welfare, 
by  which  they  have  been  dictated. 

How  far  in  the  discharge  of  my  official  duties  I 
have  been  guided  by  the  principles  which  have  been 
delineated,  the  public  records  and  other  evidences  of 
my  conduct  must  witness  to  you  and  to  the  world.  To 
myself,  the  assurance  of  my  own  conscience  is,  that 


86  WASHINGTON. 

I  have  at  least  believed  myself  to  be  guided  by 
them. 

In  relation  to  the  still  subsisting  war  in  Europe, 
my  proclamation  of  the  twenty-second  of  April,  1793, 
is  the  index  of  my  plan.  Sanctioned  by  your  approv 
ing  voice,  and  by  that  of  your  representatives  in 
both  Houses  of  Congress,  the  spirit  of  that  measure 
has  continually  governed  me,  uninfluenced  by  any  at 
tempts  to  deter  or  divert  me  from  it. 

After  deliberate  examination,  with  the  aid  of  the 
best  lights  I  could  obtain,  I  was  well  satisfied  that  our 
country,  under  all  circumstances  of  the  case,  had  a 
right  to  take,  and  was  bound  in  duty  and  interest  to 
take,  a  neutral  position.  Having  taken  it,  I  deter 
mined,  as  far  as  should  depend  upon  me,  to  maintain 
it,  with  moderation,  perseverance,  and  firmness. 

The  considerations  which  respect  the  right  to  hold 
this  conduct,  it  is  not  necessary  on  this  occasion  to  de 
tail.  I  will  only  observe  that,  according  to  my  un 
derstanding  of  the  matter,  that  right,  so  far  from  be 
ing  denied  by  any  of  the  belligerent  powers,  has  been 
virtually  admitted  by  all. 

The  duty  of  holding  a  neutral  conduct  may  be 
inferred,  without  anything  more,  from  the  obligation 
which  justice  and  humanity  impose  on  every  nation, 
in  cases  in  which  it  is  free  to  act,  to  maintain  invio 
late  the  relations  of  peace  and  amity  toward  other 
nations. 

The  inducements  of  interest  for  observing  that 
conduct  will  best  be  referred  to  your  own  reflections 
and  experience.  With  me  a  predominant  motive  has 
been  to  endeavor  to  gain  time  to  our  country  to  set- 


WASHINGTON.  8/ 

tie  and  mature  its,  yet  recent  institutions,  and  to  pro 
gress  without  interruption  to  that  degree  of  strength 
and  consistency  which  is  necessary  to  give  it,  human 
ly  speaking,  the  command  of  its  own  fortunes. 

Though,  in  reviewing  the  incidents  of  my  adminis 
tration,  I  am  unconscious  of  intentional  error,  I  am 
nevertheless  too  sensible  of  my  defects  not  to  think 
it  probable  that  I  may  have  committed  many  errors. 
Whatever  they  may  be,  I  fervently  beseech  the  Al 
mighty  to  avert  or  mitigate  the  evils  to  which  they 
may  tend.  I  shall  also  carry  with  me  the  hope  that 
my  country  will  never  cease  to  view  them  with  indul 
gence;  and  that,  after  forty-five  years  of  my  life  dedi 
cated  to  its  service  with  an  upright  zeal,  the  faults  of 
incompetent  abilities  will  be  consigned  to  oblivion,  as 
myself  must  soon  be  to  the  mansions  of  rest. 

Relying  on  its  kindness  in  this  as  in  other  things, 
and  actuated  by  that  fervent  love  toward  it,  which  is 
so  natural  to  a  man  who  views  in  it  the  native  soil  of 
himself  and  his  progenitors  for  several  generations, 
I  anticipate  with  pleasing  expectation  that  retreat  in 
which  I  promise  myself  to  realize,  without  alloy,  the 
sweet  enjoyment  of  partaking,  in  the  midst  of  my  fel 
low-citizens,  the  benign  influence  of  good  laws  under 
a  free  government,  the  ever-favorite  object  of  my 
heart,  and  the  happy  reward,  as  I  trust,  of  our  mutual 
cares,  labors,  and  dangers. 


88  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Adams,  John,  second  President  of  the  United  States, 
born  in  that  portion  of  Braintree,  Mass.,  now  known  as 
Quincy,  October  19,  1735,  died  there,  July  4,  1826.  During 
the  unquiet  period  immediately  preceding  the  American  Rev 
olution  he  stoutly  defended  in  print  the  right  of  the  colonies 
to  rebel,  and  his  speech  following  what  is  known  as  "  The 
Boston  Massacre  "  is  a  fair  specimen  of  his  eloquence.  He 
was  popular  as  an  orator,  and  although  his  style  is  grandiose 
at  times  it  was  effective  in  his  day,  and  his  speeches  make 
stirring  reading  at  the  present  even.  An  interesting  view  of 
his  character  may  be  obtained  from  the  "  Familiar  Letters 
of  John  Adams  and  his  Wife," 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 

MARCH  4,    1797.    ' 

WHEN  it  was  first  perceived  in  early  times,  that  no 
middle  course  for  America  remained,  between  un 
limited  submission  to  a  foreign  legislature  and  a  total 
independence  of  its  claims,  men  of*  reflection  were 
less  apprehensive  of  danger  from  the  formidable 
powers  of  fleets  and  armies  they  must  determine  to 
resist,  than  from  those  contests  and  dissensions  which 
would  certainly  arise  concerning  the  forms  of  gov 
ernment  to  be  instituted  over  the  whole  and  over  the 
parts  of  this  extensive  country.  Relying,  however, 
on  the  purity  of  their  intentions,  the  justice  of  their 
cause,  and  the  integrity  and  intelligence  of  the  peo 
ple,  under  an  overruling  Providence,  which  had  so 
signally  protected  this  country  from  the  first,  the 
representatives  of  this  nation,  then  consisting  of  little 
more  than  half  its  present  numbers,  not  only  <broke 


JOHN  ADAMS.  89 

to  pieces  the  chains  which  were  forging,  and  the  rod 
of  iron  that  was  lifted  up,  but  frankly  cut  asunder  the 
ties  which  had  bound  them,  and  launched  into  an 
ocean  of  uncertainty. 

The  zeal  and  ardor  of  the  people  during  the  Revo 
lutionary  War,  supplying  the  place  of  government, 
commanded  a  degree  of  order,  sufficient,  at  least, 
for  the  temporary  preservation  of  society.  The  con 
federation,  which  \vas  early  felt  to  be  necessary,  was 
prepared  from  the  models  of  the  Bavarian  and  Hel 
vetic  confederacies,  the  only  examples  which  remain, 
with  any  detail  and  precision,  in  history,  and  certain 
ly  the  only  ones  which  the  people  at  large  had  ever 
considered.  But,  reflecting  on  the  striking  differ 
ence,  in  so  many  particulars,  between  this  country 
and  those  where  a  courier  may  go  from  the  seat  of 
government  to  the  frontier  in  a  single  day,  it  was  then 
certainly  foreseen  by  some  who  assisted  in  Congress 
at  the  formation  of  it,  that  it  could  not  be  durable. 

Negligence  of  its  regulations,  inattention  to  its 
recommendations,  if  not  disobedience  to  its  authori 
ty,  not  only  in  individuals  but  in  States,  soon  ap 
peared  with  their  melancholy  consequences — uni 
versal  languor,  jealousies,  rivalries  of  States,  decline 
of  navigation  and  commerce,  discouragement  of  nee- 

o  o 

essary  manufactures,  universal  fall  in  the  value  of 
lands  and  their  produce,  contempt  of  public  and  pri 
vate  faith,  loss  of  consideration  and  credit  with  for 
eign  nations;  and,  at  length,  in  discontents,  animosi 
ties,  combinations,  partial  conventions,  and  insurrec 
tions,  threatening  some  great  national  calamity. 
In  this  dangerous  crisis  the  people  of  America  were 


90  JOHN  ADAMS. 

not  abandoned  by  their  usual  good  sense,  presence  of 
mind,  resolution,  or  integrity.  Measures  were  pur 
sued  to  concert  a  plan  to  form  a  more  perfect  union, 
establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  pro 
vide  for  the  common  defence,  promote  the  general 
welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty.  The 
public  disquisitions,  discussions,  and  deliberations  is 
sued  in  the  present  happy  constitution  of  govern 
ment. 

Employed  in  the  service  of  my  country  abroad 
during  the  whole  course  of  these  transactions,  I  first 
saw  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  a  for 
eign  country.  Irritated  by  no  literary  altercation, 
animated  by  no  public  debate,  heated  by  no  party  ani 
mosity,  I  read  it  with  great  satisfaction,  as  the  re 
sult  of  good  heads,  prompted  by  good  hearts;  as  an 
experiment  better  adapted  to  the  genius,  character, 
situation,  and  relations  of  this  nation  and  country 
than  any  which  had  even  been  proposed  or  suggested. 
In  its  general  principles  and  great  outlines,  it  was 
conformable  to  such  a  system  of  government  as  I  had 
ever  most  esteemed,  and  in  some  States,  my  own 
native  State  in  particular,  had  contributed  to  estab 
lish.  Claiming  a  right  of  suffrage  common  with  my 
fellow-citizens  in  the  adoption  or  rejection  of  a 
constitution,  which  was  to  rule  me  and  my  posterity, 
as  well  as  them  and  theirs,  I  did  not  hesitate  to  ex 
press  my  approbation  of  it  on  all  occasions,  in  public 
and  in  private.  It  was  not  then,  nor  has  been  since, 
any  objection  to  it,  in  my  mind,  that  the  Executive 
and  Senate  were  not  more  permanent.  Nor  have  I 
entertained  a  thought  of  promoting  any  alteration  in 


JOHN  ADAMS.  9! 

it,  but  such  as  the  people  themselves,  in  the  course 
of  their  experience,  should  see  and  feel  to  be  necessary 
or  expedient,  and  by  their  representatives  in  Congress 
and  the  State  legislature,  according  to  the  Constitu 
tion  itself,  adopt  and  ordain. 

Returning  to  the  bosom  of  my  country,  after  a 
painful  separation  from  it  for  ten  years,  I  had  the 
honor  to  be  elected  to  a  station  under  the  new  order 
of  things;  and  I  have  repeatedly  laid  myself  under 
the  most  serious  obligations  to  support  the  Constitu 
tion.  The  operation  of  it  has  equalled  the  most  san 
guine  expectations  of  its  friends ;  and  from  a  habitual 
attention  to  it,  satisfaction  in  its  administration,  and 
delight  in  its  effects  upon  the  peace,  order,  prosperity, 
and  happiness  of  the  nation,  I  have  acquired  a  habit 
ual  attachment  to  it,  and  veneration  for  it. 

What  other  form  of  government,  indeed,  can  so 
well  deserve  our  esteem  and  love  ? 

There  may  be  little  solidity  in  an  ancient  idea  that 
congregations  of  men  into  cities  and  nations  are  the 
most  pleasing  objects  in  the  sight  of  superior  intelli 
gences;  but  this  is  very  certain,  that  to  a  benevolent 
human  mind  there  can  be  no  spectacle  presented  by 
any  nation  more  pleasing,  more  noble,  majestic,  or 
august,  than  an  assembly  like  that  which  has  so  often 
been  seen  in  this  and  the  other  Chamber  of  Con 
gress — of  a  government  of  which  the  executive  au 
thority,  as  well  as  that  of  all  the  branches  of  the  legis 
lature,  are  exercised  by  citizens  selected  at  regular 
periods  by  their  neighbors,  to  make  and  execute  laws 
for  the  general  good.  Can  anything  essential,  any 
thing  more  than  mere  ornament  and  decoration  be 


92  JOHN   ADAMS. 

added  to  this  by  robes  or  diamonds?  Can  authority 
be  more  amiable  or  respectable  when  it  descends  from 
accident  or  institutions  established  in  remote  anti 
quity  than  when  it  springs  fresh  from  the  hearts 
and  judgments  of  an  honest  and  enlightened  people? 
For  it  is  the  people  that  are  represented;  it  is  their 
power  and  majesty  that  is  reflected,  and  only  for  their 
good,  in  every  legitimate  government,  under  what 
ever  form  it  may  appear.  The  existence  of  such  a 
government  as  ours  for  any  length  of  time  is  a  full 
proof  of  a  general  dissemination  of  knowledge  and 
virtue  throughout  the  whole  body  of  the  people.  And 
what  object  of  consideration  more  pleasing  than  this 
can  be  presented  to  the  human  mind?  If  natural 
pride  is  ever  justifiable  or  excusable,  it  is  when  it 
springs  hot  from  power  or  riches,  grandeur  or  glory, 
but  from  conviction  of  national  innocence,  informa 
tion,  and  benevolence. 

In  the  midst  of  these  pleasing  ideas,  we  should  be 
unfaithful  to  ourselves  if  we  should  ever  lose  sight 
of  the  danger  to  our  liberties — if  anything  partial  or 
extraneous  should  infect  the  purity  of  our  free,  fair, 
virtuous,  and  independent  elections.  If  an  election 
is  to  be  determined  by  a  majority  of  a  single  vote, 
and  that  can  be  procured  by  a  party  through  artifice 
or  corruption,  the  government  may  be  the  choice  of 
a  party,  for  its  own  ends,  not  of  the  nation  for  the 
national  good.  If  that  solitary  suffrage  can  be  obtained 
by  foreign  nations  by  flattery  or  menaces,  by  fraud  or 
violence,  by  terror,  intrigue,  or  venality,  the  govern 
ment  may  not  be  the  choice  of  the  American  people, 
but  of  foreign  nations.  It  may  be  foreign  nations 


JOHN   ADAMS.  93 

who  govern  us,  and  not  we,  the  people,  who  govern 
ourselves;  and  candid  men  will  acknowledge  that,  in 
such  cases,  choice  would  have  little  advantage  to 
boast  of  over  lot  or  chance. 

Such  is  the  amiable  and  interesting  system  of  gov 
ernment  (and  such  are  some  of  the  abuses  to  which 
it  may  be  exposed)  which  the  people  of  America  have 
exhibited  to  the  admiration  and  anxiety  of  the  wise 
and  virtuous  of  all  nations  for  eight  years,  under  the 
administration  of  a  citizen,  who,  by  a  long  course  of 
great  actions,  regulated  by  prudence,  justice,  tem 
perance,  and  fortitude,  conducting  a  people  inspired 
with  the  same  virtues,  and  animated  with  the  same 
ardent  patriotism  and  love  of  liberty,  to  independence 
and  peace,  to  increasing  wealth  and  unexampled  pros 
perity  has  merited  the  gratitude  of  his  fellow-citizens, 
commanded  the  highest  praises  of  foreign  nations, 
and  secured  immortal  glory  with  posterity. 

In  that  retirement,  which  is  his  voluntary  choice, 
may  he  live  long  to  enjoy  the  delicious  recollection 
of  his  services — the  gratitude  of  mankind;  the  happy 
fruits  of  them  to  himself  and  the  world,  which  are 
daily  increasing,  and  that  splendid  prospect  of  the  fu 
ture  fortunes  of  his  country,  which  is  opening  from 
year  to  year.  His  name  may  be  still  a  rampart 
and  the  knowledge  that  he  lives  a  bulwark  against  all 
open  or  secret  enemies  of  his  country's  peace. 

This  example  has  been  recommended  to  the  imita 
tion  of  his  successors,  by  both  Houses  of  Congress, 
and  by  the  voice  of  the  Legislatures  and  the  people 
throughout  the  nation. 

On  this  subject  it  might  become  me  better  to  be 


94  JOHN   ADAMS. 

silent,  or  to  speak  with  diffidence;  but  as  something* 
may  be  expected,  the  occasion,  I  hope,  will  be  ad 
mitted  as  an  apology,  if  I  venture  to  say,  that  if  a 
preference  upon  principle,  of  a  free  republican  gov 
ernment,  formed  upon  long  and  serious  reflection,  af 
ter  a  diligent  .  and  impartial  inquiry  after  truth ; 
if  an  attachment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  a  conscientious  determination  to  support 
it,  until  it  shall  be  altered  by  the  judgments  and 
wishes  of  the  people,  expressed  in  the  mode  prescribed 
in 'it;  if  a  respectful  attention  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  individual  States,  and  a  constant  caution  and  deli 
cacy  toward  the  State  governments;  if  an  equal  and 
impartial  regard  to  the  rights,  interests,  honor,  and 
happiness  of  all  the  States  in  the  Union,  without 
preference  or  regard  to  a  northern  or  southern,  east 
ern  or  western  position,  their  various  political  opin 
ions  on  essential  points,  or  their  personal  attach 
ments;  of  a  love  of  virtuous  men,  of  all  parties  and 
denominations;  if  a  love  of  science  and  letters  and  a 
wish  to  patronize  every  rational  effort  to  encourage 
schools,  colleges,  universities,  academies,  and  every 
institution  of  propagating  knowledge,  virtue  and  re 
ligion  among  all  classes  of  people,  not  only  for  their 
benign  influence  on  the  happiness  of  life,  in  ail  its 
stages  and  classes,  and  of  society  in  all  its  forms,  but 
as  the  only  means  of  preserving  our  Constitution  from 
its  natural  enemies,  the  spirit  of  sophistry,  the  spirit 
of  party,  the  spirit  of  intrigue,  profligacy,  and  cor 
ruption,  and  the  pestilence  of  foreign  influence,  which 
is  the  angel  of  destruction  to  elective  governments; 
if  a  love  of  equal  laws,  of  justice  and  humanity,  in 


JOHN   ADAMS.  95 

the  interior  administration;  if  an  inclination  to  im 
prove  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures  for 
necessity,  convenience,  and  defence;  if  a  spirit  of 
equity  and  humanity  toward  the  aboriginal  nations 
of  America,  and  a  disposition  to  ameliorate  their  con 
dition  by  inclining  them  to  be  more  friendly  to  us, 
and  our  citizens  to  be  more  friendly  to  them;  if  an 
inflexible  determination  to  maintain  peace  and  in 
violable  faith  with  all  nations,  and  the  system  of  neu 
trality  and  impartiality  among  the  belligerent  powers 
of  Europe  which  has  been  adopted  by  the  govern 
ment,  and  so  solemnly  sanctioned  by  both  Houses  of 
Congress,  and  applauded  by  the  Legislatures  of  the 
States  and  by  public  opinion,  until  it  shall  be  otherwise 
ordained  by  Congress;  if  a  personal  esteem  for  the 
French  nation,  formed  in  a  residence  of  seven  years 
chiefly  among  them,  and  a  sincere  desire  to  preserve 
the  friendship,  which  has  been  so  much  for  the 
honor  and  interest  of  both  nations;  if,  while  the 
conscious  honor  and  integrity  of  the  people  of 
America  and  the  internal  sentiment  of  their  own 
power  and  energies  must  be  preserved,  an  earn 
est  endeavor  to  investigate  every  just  cause,  and 
remove  every  colorable  pretence  of  complaint;  if 
an  intention  to  pursue,  by  amicable  negotiation,  a 
reparation  for  the  injuries  that  have  been  com 
mitted  on  the  commerce  of  our  fellow-citizens,  by 
whatever  nation,  and,  if  success  cannot  be  obtained, 
to  lay  the  facts  before  the  Legislature,  that  they  may 
consider  what  further  measures  the  honor  and  inter 
ests  of  the  government  and  its  constituents  demand; 
if  a  resolution  to  do  justice,  as  far  as  may  depend  upon 


96  JOHN   ADAMS. 

me,  at  all  times  and  to  all  nations,  and  maintain  peace, 
friendship,  and  benevolence  with  all  the  world;  if 
an  unshaken  confidence  in  the  honor,  spirit,  and  re 
sources  of  the  American  people,  on  which  I  have  so 
often  hazarded  my  all,  and  never  been  deceived;  if 
elevated  ideas  of  the  high  destinies  of  this  country, 
and  of  my  own  duties  toward  it,  founded  on  a  know 
ledge  of  the  moral  principles  and  intellectual  improve 
ments  of  the  people,  deeply  engraven  on  my  mind  in 
early  life,  and  not  obscured,  but  exalted,  by  exper 
ience  and  age;  and  with  humble  reverence,  I  feel  it 
my  duty  to  add,  if  a  veneration  for  the  religion  of  the 
people  who  profess  and  call  themselves  Christians, 
and  a  fixed  resolution  to  consider  a  decent  respect 
for  Christianity  among  the  best  recommendations  for 
the  public  service,  can  enable  me,  in  any  degree,  to 
comply  with  your  wishes,  it  shall  be  my  strenuous  en 
deavor  that  this  sagacious  injunction  of  the  two 
Houses  shall  not  be  without  effect. 

With  this  great  example  before  me — with  the  sense 
and  spirit,  the  faith  and  honor,  the  duty  and  interest 
of  the  same  American  people,  pledged  to  support  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  I  entertain  no 
doubt  of  its  continuance  in  all  its  energy;  and  my 
mind  is  prepared,  without  hesitation,  to  lay  myself 
under  the  most  solemn  obligations  to  support  it  to 
the  utmost  of  my  power. 

And  may  that  Being  who  is  supreme  over  all,  the 
patron  of  order,  the  fountain  of  justice,  and  the  pro 
tector,  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  of  virtuous  liberty, 
continue  his  blessing  upon  this  nation  and  its  govern 
ment,  and  give  it  all  possible  success  and  duration, 
consistent  with  the  ends  of  his  providence  ! 


JOHN   ADAMS.  97 

THE  BOSTON  MASSACRE. 

FIRST  DAY'S  SPEECH  IN  DEFENCE  OF  THE  BRITISH  SOL 
DIERS  ACCUSED  OF  MURDERING  ATTUCKS,  GRAY  AND 
OTHERS,  IN  THE  BOSTON  RIOT  OF  1 7/O. 

May  it  Please  Your  Honor,  and  You,  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury : 

I  AM  for  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  and  shall  apologize 
for  it  only  in  the  words  of  the  Marquis  Beccaria :  "  If 
I  can  but  be  the  instrument  of  preserving  one  life,  his 
blessings  and  tears  of  transport  shall  be  a  sufficient 
consolation  for  me  for  the  contempt  of  all  mankind." 

As  the  prisoners  stand  before  you  for  their  lives, 
it  may  be  proper  to  recollect  with  what  temper  the 
law  requires  we  should  proceed  to  this  trial.  The 
form  of  proceeding  at  their  arraignment  has  discov 
ered  that  the  spirit  of  the  law  upon  such  occasions  is 
conformable  to  humanity,  to  common-sense  and  feel 
ing;  that  it  is  all  benignity  and  candor.  And  the 
trial  commences  with  the  prayer  of  the  court,  ex 
pressed  by  the  clerk,  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  judges, 
empires,  and  worlds,  "  God  send  you  a  good  deliver 
ance." 

We  find  in  the  rules  laid  down  by  the  greatest 
English  judges,  who  have  been  the  brightest  of  man 
kind  :  We  are  to  look  upon  it  as  more  beneficial  that 
many  guilty  persons  should  escape  unpunished  than 
one  innocent  should  suffer.  The  reason  is,  because 
it  is  of  more  importance  to  the  community  that  inno 
cence  should  be  protected  than  it  is  that  guilt  should 
be  punished;  for  guilt  and  crimes  are  so  frequent  in 
the  world  that  all  of  them  cannot  be  punished; 


98  JOHN  ADAMS. 

and  many  times  they  happen  in  such  a  manner 
ner  that  it  is  not  of  much  consequence  to  the  pub 
lic  whether  they  are  punished  or  not.  But  when  in 
nocence  itself  is  brought  to  the  bar  and  condemned, 
especially  to  die,  the  subject  will  exclaim,  "  It  is  im 
material  whether  I  behave  well  or  ill,  for  virtue  itself 
is  no  security."  And  if  such  a  sentiment  as  this 
should  take  place  in  the  mind  of  the  subject,  there 
would  be  an  end  to  all  security  whatsoever.  I  will  read 
the  words  of  the  .law  itself. 

The  rules  I  shall  produce  to  you  from  Lord  Chief- 
Justice  Hale,  whose  character  as  a  lawyer,  a  man  of 
learning  and  philosophy,  and  a  Christian,  will  be  dis 
puted  by  nobody  living;  one  of  the  greatest  and  best 
characters  the  English  nation  ever  produced.  His 
words  are  these : 

2  H.  H.  P.  C.  "  Tutius  semper  est  errare,  in  ac- 
quietando  quam  in  puniendo,  ex  parte  misericordise 
quam  ex  parte  justitise." — "  It  is  always  safer  to  err 
in  acquitting  than  punishing,  on  the  part  of  mercy 
than  the  part  of  justice." 

The  next  is  from  the  same  authority,  305  : 

"  Tutius  erratur  ex  parte  mitiori." — "  It  is  always 
safer  to  err  on  the  milder  side,  the  side  of  mercy." 

H.  H.  P.  C.  509.  "  The  best  rule  in  doubtful  cases 
is  rather  to  incline  to  acquittal  than  conviction." 

And  on  page  300 : 

"  Quod   dubitas,    ne    feceris." — "  Where   you   are 


JOHN   ADAMS.  99 

doubtful  never  act;  that  is,  if  you  doubt  of  the  pris 
oner's  guilt,  never  declare  him  guilty." 

This  is  always  the  rule,  especially  in  cases  of  life. 
Another  rule  from  the  same  author,  289,  where  he 
says : 

"  In  some  cases  presumptive  evidences  go  far  to 
prove  a  person  guilty,  though  there  is  no  express 
proof  of  the  fact  to  be  committed  by  him ;  but  then  it 
must  be  very  \varily  expressed,  for  it  is  better  five 
guilty  persons  should  escape  unpunished  than  one  in 
nocent  person  should  die." 

The  next  authority  shall  be  from  another  judge  of 
equal  character,  considering  the  age  wherein  he  lived ; 
that  is  Chancellor  Fortescue,  in  "  Praise  of  the  Laws 
of  England,"  page  59.  This  is  a  very  ancient  writer 
on  the  English  law.  His  words  are : 

"  Indeed,  one  would  rather,  much  rather,  that  twen 
ty  guilty  persons  escape  punishment  of  death,  than 
one  innocent  person  be  condemned  and  suffer  capi 
tally." 

Lord  Chief- Justice  Hale  says: 

"  It  is  beter  five  guilty  persons  escape,  than  one 
innocent  person  suffer." 

Lord  Chancellor  Fortescue,  you  see,  carries  the 
matter  further,  and  says : 

"Indeed,  one  had  rather,  much  rather,  that  twen- 
4—1 


IOO  JOHN  ADAMS. 

ty  guilty  persons  should  escape  than  one  innocent 
person  suffer  capitally." 

Indeed,  this  rule  is  not  peculiar  to  the  English  law ; 
there  never  was  a  system  of  laws  in  the  world  in 
which  this  rule  did  not  prevail.  It  prevailed  in  the 
•ancient  Roman  law,  and,  which  is  more  remarkable, 
it  prevails  in  the  modern  Roman  law.  Even  the 
judges  in  the  Courts  of  Inquisition,  who  with  racks, 
burnings,  and  scourges,  examine  criminals — even 
there  they  preserve  it  as  a  maxim,  that  it  is  better  the 
guilty  should  escape  punishment  than  the  innocent 
suffer.  "  Satius  esse  nocentem  absolvi  quam  inno- 
centem  damnari."  This  is  .the  temper  we  ought  to 
set  out  with,  and  these  the  rules  we  are  to  be  gov 
erned  by.  And  I  shall  take  it  for  granted,  as  a  first 
principle,  that  the  eight  prisoners  at  the  bar  had  bet 
ter  be  all  acquitted,  though  we  should  admit  them  all 
to  be  guilty,  than  that  any  one  of  them  should,  by  your 
verdict,  be  found  guilty,  being  innocent. 

I  shall  now  consider  the  several  divisions  of  law 
under  which  the  evidence  will  arrange  itself. 

The  action  now  before  you  is  homicide;  that  is, 
the  killing  of  one  man  by  another.  The  law  calls  it 
homicide ;  but  it  is  not  criminal  in  all  cases  for  one 
man  to  slay  another.  Had  the  prisoners  been  on  the 
Plains  of  Abraham  and  slain  a  hundred  Frenchmen 
apiece,  the  English  law  would  have  considered  it  as 
a  commendable  action,  virtuous  and  praiseworthy; 
so  that  every  instance  of  killing  a  man  is  not  a  crime 
in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  There  are  many  other  in 
stances  which  I  cannot  enumerate — an  officer  that 


JOHN   ADAMS.  IOI 

executes  a  person  under  sentence  of  death,  etc.  So 
that,  gentlemen,  every  instance  of  one  man's  killing 
another  is  not  a  crime,  much  less  a  crime  to  be  pun 
ished  with  death.  But  to  descend  to  more  particu 
lars. 

The  law  divides  homicide  into  three  branches;  the 
first  is  "  justifiable,"  the  second  "  excusable/'  and  the 
third  "  felonious."  Felonious  homicide  is  subdivided 
into  two  branches ;  the  first  is  murder,  which  is  killing 
with  malice  aforethought ;  the  second  is  manslaughter, 
which  is  killing  a  man  on  a  sudden  provocation. 
Here,  gentlemen,  are  four  sorts  of  homicide;  and 
you  are  to  consider  whether  all  the  evidence  amounts 
to  the  first,  second,  third,  or  fourth  of  these  heads. 
The  fact  was  the  slaying  five  unhappy  persons  that 
night.  You  are  to  consider  whether  it  was  justifi 
able,  excusable  or  felonious ;  and  if  felonious,  whether 
it  was  murder  or  manslaughter.  One  of  these  four 
it  must  be.  You  need  not  divide  your  attention  to 
any  more  particulars.  I  shall,  however,  before  I 
come  to  the  evidence,  show  you  several  authorites 
which  will  assist  you  and  me  in  contemplating  the 
evidence  before  us. 

I  shall  begin  with  justifiable  homicide.  If  an  offi 
cer,  a  sheriff,  execute  a  man  on  the  gallows,  draw  and 
quarter  him,  as  in  case  of  high  treason,  and  cut  off 
his  head,  this  is  justifiable  homicide.  It  is  his  duty. 
So  also,  gentlemen,  the  law  has  planted  fences  and 
barriers  around  every  individual;  it  is  a  castle  round 
every  man's  person,  as  well  as  his  house.  As  the  love 
of  God  and  our  neighbor  comprehends  the  whole  duty 
of  man,  so  self-love  and  social  comprehend  all  the 


102  JOHN   ADAMS. 

duties  we  owe  to  mankind;  and  the  first  branch  is 
self-love,  which  is  not  only  our  indisputable  right, 
but  our  clearest  duty.  By  the  laws  of  nature,  this 
is  interwoven  in  the  heart  of  every  individual.  God 
Almighty,  whose  law  we  cannot  alter,  has  implanted 
it  there,  and  we  can  annihilate  ourselves  as  easily  as 
root  out  this  affection  for  ourselves.  It  is  the  first 
and  strongest  principle  in  our  nature.  Justice  Black- 
stone  calls  it  "  The  primary  canon  in  the  law  of  na- 
'ture."  That  precept  of  our  holy  religion  which  com 
mands  us  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves  does  not 
command  us  to  love  our  neighbor  better  than  our 
selves,  or  so  well.  No  Christian  divine  has  given  this 
interpretation.  The  precept  enjoins  that  our  bene 
volence  to  our  fellow-men  should  be  as  real  and  sin 
cere  as  our  affection  to  ourselves,  not  that  it  should 
be  as  great  in  degree.  A  man  is  authorized,  there 
fore,  by  common-sense  and  the  laws  of  England,  as 
well  as  those  of  nature,  to  love  himself  better  than 
his  fellow-subject.  If  two  persons  are  cast  away  at 
sea,  and  get  on  a  plank  (a  case  put  by  Sir  Francis 
Bacon),  and  the  plank  is  insufficient  to  hold  them  both, 
the  one  has  a  right  to  push  the  other  off  to  save  him 
self.  The  rules  of  the  common  law,  therefore,  which 
authorize  a  man  to  preserve  his  own  life  at  the  ex 
pense  of  another's,  are  not  contradicted  by  any  di 
vine  or  moral  law.  We  talk  of  liberty  and  property, 
but  if  we  cut  up  the  law  of  self-defence,  we  cut  up 
the  foundation  of  both;  and  if  we  give  up  this,  the 
rest  is  of  very  little  value,  and  therefore  this  princi 
ple  must  be  strictly  attended  to;  for  whatsoever  the 
law  pronounces  in  the  case  of  these  eight  soldiers  will 


JOHN  ADAMS. 

he  the  law  to  other  persons  and  after  ages.  All  the 
persons  that  have  slain  mankind  in  this  country  from 
the  beginning  to  this  day  had  better  have  been  ac 
quitted  than  that  a  wrong  rule  and  precedent  should 
be  established. 

I  shall  now  read  to  you  a  few  authorities  on  this 
subject  of  self-defence.  Foster,  273  (in  the  case  of 
justifiable  self-defence)  : 

'  The  injured  party  may  repel  force  with  force  in 
defence  of  person,  habitation,  or  property,  against 
one  who  manifestly  intendeth  and  endeavoreth  wirh 
violence  or  surprise  to  commit  a  known  felony  upon 
either.  In  these  cases  he  is  not  obliged  to  retreat, 
but  may  pursue  his  adversary  till  he  finds  himself  out 
of  danger;  and  if  in  a  conflict  between  them  he  hap- 
peneth  to  kill,  such  killing  is  justifiable." 

I  must  entreat  you  to  consider  the  words  of  this 
authority.  The  injured  person  may  repel  force  by 
force  against  any  who  endeavoreth  to  commit  any 
kind  of  felony  on  him  or  his.  Here  the  rule  is,  I 
have  a  right  to  stand  on  my  own  defence,  if  you  in 
tend  to  commit  felony.  If  any  of  the  persons  made 
an  attack  on  these  soldiers,  with  an  intention  to  rob 
them,  if  it  was  but  to  take  their  hats  feloniously,  they 
had  a  right  to  kill  them  on  the  spot,  and  had  no  busi 
ness  to  retreat.  If  a  robber  meet  me  in  the  street 
and  command  me  to  surrender  my  purse,  I  have  a 
right  to  kill  him  without  asking  any  questions.  If  a 
person  commit  a  bare  assault  on  me,  this  will  not  jus 
tify  killing;  but  if  he  assault  me  in  such  a  manner  as 


104  JOHN  ADAMS. 

to  discover  an  intention  to  kill  me,  I  have  a  right  to 
destroy  him,  that  I  may  put  it  out  of  his  power  to  kill 
me.  In  the  case  you  will  have  to  consider,  I  do  not 
know  there  was  any  attempt  to  steal  from  these  per 
sons;  however,  there  were  some  persons  concerned 
who  would,  probably  enough,  have  stolen,  if  there  had 
been  anything  to  steal,  and  many  were  there  who  had 
no  such  disposition.  But  this  is  not  the  point  we  aim 
at.  The  question  is,  Are  you  satisfied  the  people 
made  the  attack  in  order  to  kill  the  soldiers?  If 
you  are  satisfied  that  the  people,  whoever  they  were, 
made  that  assault  with  a  design  to  kill  or  maim  the 
soldiers,  this  was  such  an  assault  as  will  justify  the 
soldiers  killing  in  their  own  defence.  Further,  it 
seems  to  me,  we  may  make  another  question,  whether 
you  are  satisfied  that  their  real  intention  was  to  kill 
or  maim,  or  not?  If  any  reasonable  man  in  the  situa 
tion  of  one  of  these  soldiers  would  have  had  reason 
to  believe  in  the  time  of  it,  that  the  people  came  with 
an  intention  to  kill  him,  whether  you  have  this  satis 
faction  now  or  not  in  your  own  minds,  they  were 
justifiable,  at  least  excusable  in  firing.  You  and  I 
may  be  suspicious  that  the  people  who  made  this  as 
sault  on  the  soldiers  did  it  to  put  them  to  flight,  on 
purpose  that  they  might  go  exulting  about  the  town 
afterward  in  triumph;  but  this  will  not  do.  You 
must  place  yourselves  in  the  situation  of  Weems  and 
Killroy — consider  yourselves  as  knowing  that  the 
-prejudice  of  the  world  about  you  thought  you  came 
to  dragoon  them  into  obedience,  to  statutes,  instruc 
tions,  mandates,  and  edicts,  which  they  thoroughly 
detested — that  many  of  these  people  were  thoughtless 


10$ 

and  inconsiderate,  old  and  young,  sailors  and  lands 
men,  negroes  and  mulattoes — that  they,  the  soldiers,, 
had  no  friends  about  them,  the  rest  were  in  O£>posi- 
tion  to  them;  with  all  the  bells  ringing  to  call  the 
town  together  to  assist  the  people  in  King  Street,  for 
they  knew  by  that  time  that  there  was  no  fire;  the 
people  shouting,  huzzaing,  and  making  the  mob  whis 
tle,  as  they  call  it,  which,  when  a  boy  makes  it  in  the 
street  is  no  formidable  thing,  but  when  made  by  a. 
multitude  is  a  most  hideous  shriek,  almost  as  terrible 
as  an  Indian  yell ;  the  people  crying,  "  Kill  them,  kill 
them.  Knock  them  over,"  heaving  snowballs,  oyster 
shells,  clubs,  white-birch  sticks  three  inches  and  a. 
half  in  diameter;  consider  yourselves  in  this  situa 
tion,  and  then  judge  whether  a  reasonable  man  in  the 
soldiers'  situation  would  not  have  concluded  they  were 
going  to  kill  him.  I  believe  if  I  were  to  reverse 
the  scene,  I  should  bring  it  home  to  our  own  bosoms. 
Suppose  Colonel  Marshall  when  he  came  out  of  his 
own  door  and  saw  these  grenadiers  coming  down 
with  swords,  etc.,  have  thought  it  proper  to  have  ap 
pointed  a  military  watch;  suppose  he  had  assembled 
Gray  and  Attucks  that  were  killed,  or  any  other  per 
son  in  town,  and  appointed  them  in  that  situation  as, 
a  military  watch,  and  there  had  come  from  Murray's 
barracks  thirty  or  forty  soldiers  with  no  other  arms, 
than  snowballs,  cakes  of  ice,  oyster  shells,  cinders,, 
and  clubs,  and  attacked  this  military  watch  in  this, 
manner,  what  do  you  suppose  would  have  been  the 
feelings  and  reasonings  of  any  of  our  householders? 
I  confess,  I  believe  they  would  not  have  borne  one- 
half  of  what  the  witnesses  have  sworn  the  soldiers 


IO6  JOHN   ADAMS. 

bore,  till  they  had  shot  down  as  many  as  were  neces 
sary  to  intimidate  and  disperse  the  rest;  because  the 
law  does  not  oblige  us  to  bear  insults  to  the  danger 
of  our  lives,  to  stand  still  with  such  a  number  of  peo 
ple  around  us,  throwing  such  things  at  us,  and  threat 
ening  our  lives,  until  we  are  disabled  to  defend  our 
selves. 

Foster,  274 :  "  Where  a  known  felony  is  attempted 
upon  the  person,  be  it  to  rob  or  murder,  here  the  party 
assaulted  may  repel  force  with  force,  and  even  his 
own  servant,  then  attendant  on  him,  or  any  other 
person  present,  may  interpose  for  preventing  mis 
chief,  and  if  death  ensue,  the  party  so  interposing  will 
be  justified.  In  this  case  nature  and  social  duty  co 
operate." 

Hawkins,  P.  C,  Chapter  28,  Section  25,  toward  the 
end :  "  Yet  it  seems  that  a  private  person,  a  fortiori, 
an  officer  of  justice,  who  happens  unavoidably  to  kill 
another  in  endeavoring  to  defend  himself  from  or 
suppress  dangerous  rioters,  may  justify  the  fact  in 
asmuch  as  he  only  does  his  duty  in  aid  of  the  public 
justice." 

Section  24 :  "  And  I  can  see  no  reason  why  a  per 
son,  who,  without  provocation,  is  assaulted  by  another, 
in  any  place  whatsoever,  in  such  manner  as  plainly 
shows  an  intent  to  murder  him,  as  by  discharging  a 
pistol,  or  pushing  at  him  with  a  drawn  sword,  etc., 
may  not  justify  killing  such  an  assailant,  as  much  as 
if  he  had  attempted  to  rob  him.  For  is  not  he  who 
attempts  to  murder  me  more  injurious  than  he  who 


JOHN   ADAMS.  IO/ 

barely  attempts  to  rob  me?     And  can  it  be  more  justi 
fiable  to  fight  for  my  goods  than  for  my  life?  " 

And  it  is  not  only  highly  agreable  to  reason  that 
a  man  in  such  circumstances  may  lawfully  kill  another, 
but  it  seems  also  to  be  confirmed  by  the  general  tenor 
of  our  books,  which,  speaking  of  homicide  se  defendo, 
suppose  it  done  in  some  quarrel  or  affray. 

Hawkins,  p.  71,  §  114:  "And  so,  perhaps  the  kill 
ing  of  dangerous  rioters  may  be  justified  by  any  pri 
vate  persons,  who  cannot  otherwise  suppress  them 
or  defend  themselves  from  them,  inasmuch  as  every 
private  person  seems  to  be  authorized  by  the  law  to 
arm  himself  for  the  purposes  aforesaid." 

Here  every  private  person  is  authorized  to  arm 
himself  ;  and  on  the  strength  of  this  authority  I  do 
not  deny  the  inhabitants  had  a  right  to  arm  them 
selves  at  that  time  for  their  defence,  not  for  offence. 
That  distinction  is  material,  and  must  be  attended  to. 

Hawkins,  p.  75,  §  14 :  "  And  not  only  he  who  on  an 
assault  retreats  to  the  wall,  or  some  such  strait,  beyond 
which  he  can  go  no  further  before  he  kills  the  other, 
is  judged  by  the  law  to  act  upon  unavoidable  neces 
sity  ;  but  also  he  who  being  assaulted  in  such  a  manner 
and  in  such  a  place  that  he  cannot  go  back  without 
manifestly  endangering  his  life,  kills  the  other  with 
out  retreating  at  all." 

Section  16:  "  And  an  officer  who  kills  one  that  in 
sults  him  in  the  execution  of  his  office,  and  where  a 
private  person  that  kills  one  who  feloniously  assaults 


JOHN   ADAMS. 

•him  in  the  highway,  may  justify  the  fact  without  ever 
giving  back  at  all." 

There  is  no  occasion  for  the  magistrate  to  read  the 
Riot  Act.  In  the  case  before  you,  I  suppose  you  will 
"be  satisfied  when  you  come  to  examine  the  witnesses 
and  compare  it  with  the  rules  of  the  common  law,  ab 
stracted  from  all  mutiny  acts  and  articles  of  war,  that 
these  soldiers  were  in  such  a  situation  that  they  could 
not  help  themselves.  People  were  coming  from  Royal 
Exchange  Lane,  and  other  parts  of  the  town,  with 
clubs  and  cordwood  sticks;  the  soldiers  were  planted 
by  the  wall  of  the  Custom  House ;  they  could  not  re 
treat;  they  were  surrounded  on  all  sides,  for  there 
were  people  behind  them  as  well  as  before  them ;  there 
were  a  number  of  people  in  the  Royal  Exchange  Lane ; 
the  soldiers  were  so  near  to  the  Custom  House  that 
they  could  not  retreat,  unless  they  had  gone  into  the 
brick  wall  of  it.  I  shall  show  you  presently  that  all  the 
party  concerned  in  this  unlawful  design  were  guilty 
of  what  any  one  of  them  did;  if  anybody  threw  a 
snowball  it  was  the  act  of  the  whole  party;  if  any 
struck  with  a  club  or  threw  a  club,  and  the  club  had 
killed  anybody,  the  whole  party  would  have  been 
guilty  of  murder  in  the  law.  Lord  Chief-Justice  Holt, 
in  Mawgrige's  case  (Keyling,  128),  says: 

"  Now,  it  has  been  held,  that  if  A  of  his  malice  pre 
pense  assaults  B  to  kill  him,  and  B  drawls  his  sword 
and  attacks  A  and  pursues  him,  then  A,  for  his  safe 
ty,  gives  back  and  retreats  to  a  wall,  and  B  still  pur 
suing  him  with  his  drawn  sw.ord,  A  in  his  defence  kills 


JOHN   ADAMS.  I(X> 

B ;  this  is  murder  in  A.  For  A  having  malice  against 
B,  and  in  pursuance  thereof  endeavoring  to  kill  him,  is. 
answerable  for  all  the  consequences  of  which  he  was 
the  original  cause.  It  is  not  reasonable  for  any  man 
that  is  dangerously  assaulted,  and  when  he  perceives  * 
his  life  in  danger  from  his  adversary,  but  to  have  liber 
ty  for  the  security  of  his  own  life,  to  pursue  him  that 
maliciously  assaulted  him;  for  he  that  has  manifested 
that  he  has  malice  against  another  is  not  fit  to  be  trust 
ed  with  a  dangerous  weapon  in  his  hand.  And  so  re 
solved  by  all  the  judges  when  they  met  at  Seargeant's 
Inn,  in  preparation  for  my  Lord  Morley's  trial." 

In  the  case  here  we  will  take  Montgomery,  if  you 
please,  when  he  was  attacked  by  the  stout  man  with  a 
stick,  who  aimed  it  at  his  head,  with  a  number  of  peo 
ple  round  him  crying  out,  "  Kill  them,  kill  them."  Had 
he  not  a  right  to  kill  the  man?  If  all  the  party  were 
guilty  of  the  assault  made  by  the  stout  man,  and  all  of 
them  had  discovered  malice  in  their  hearts,  had  not 
Montgomery  a  right,  according  to  Lord  Chief-Justice 
Holt,  to  put  it  out  of  their  power  to  wreak  their  malice 
upon  him,?  I  will  not  at  present  look  for  any  more 
authorities  in  the  point  of  self-defence  ;  you  will  be  able- 
to  judge  from  these  how  far  the  law  goes  in  justifying- 
or  excusing  any  person  in  defence  of  himself,  or  tak 
ing  away  the  life  of  another  who  threatens  him  in  life 
or  limb.  The  next  point  is  this :  that  in  case  of  an  un 
lawful  assembly,  all  and  every  one  of  the  assembly  is 
guilty  of  all  and  every  unlawful  act  committed  by  any 
one  of  that  assembly  in  prosecution  of  the  unlawful  de 
sign  set  out  upon. 


IIO  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Rules  of  law  should  be  universally  known,  whatever 
•effect  they  may  have  on  politics;  they  are  rules  of 
common  law,  the  law  of  the  land;  and  it  is  certainly 
true,  that  wherever  there  is  an  unlawful  assembly,  let 
it  consist  of  many  persons  or  of  a  few,  every  man  in 
it  is  guilty  of  every  unlawful  act  committed  by  any 
one  of  the  whole  party,  be  they  more  or  be  they  less, 
in  pursuance  of  their  unlawful  design.  This  is  the 
policy  of  the  law ;  to  discourage  and  prevent  riots,  in 
surrections,  turbulence,  and  tumults. 

In  the  continual  vicissitudes  of  human  things,  amid 
the  shocks  of  fortune  and  the  whirls  of  passion  that  take 
place  at  certain  critical  seasons,  even  in  the  mildest 
government,  the  people  are  liable  to  run  into  riots  and 
tumults.  There  are  Church-quakes  and  State-quakes 
in  the  moral  and  political  world,  as  well  as  earth 
quakes,  storms,  and  tempests  in  the  physical.  Thus 
much,  however,  must  be  said  in  favor  of  the  people 
and  of  human  nature,  that  it  is  a  general,  if  not  a  uni 
versal  truth,  that  the  aptitude  of  the  people  to  mutin 
ies,  seditions,  tumults,  and  insurrections,  is  in  direct 
proportion  to  the  despotism  of  the  government.  In  gov 
ernments  completely  despotic — that  is,  where  the  will 
of  one  man  is  the  only  law,  this  disposition  is  most 
prevalent.  In  aristocracies  next;  in  mixed  monarch 
ies,  less  than  either  of  the  former ;  in  complete  repub 
lics  the  least  of  all,  and  under  the  same  form  of  gov 
ernments  as  in  a  limited  monarchy,  for  example,  the 
virtue  and  wisdom  of  the  administrations  may  gener 
ally  be  measured  by  the  peace  and  order  that  are  seen 
among  the  people.  However  this  may  be,  such  is  the 
imperfection  of  all  things  in  this  world,  that  no  form 


JOHN   ADAMS.  Ill 

of  government,  and  perhaps  no  virtue  or  wisdom  in 
the  administration,  can  at  all  times  avoid  riots  and  dis 
orders  among  the  people. 

Now,  it  is  from  this  difficulty  that  the  policy  of  the 
law  has  framed  such  strong  discouragements  to  secure 
the  people  against  tumults;  because,  when  they  once 
begin,  there  is  danger  of  their  running  to  such  ex 
cesses  as  will  overturn  the  whole  system  of  govern 
ment.  There  is  the  rule  from  the  reverend  sage  of 
the  law,  so  often  quoted  before : 

i  H.  H.  P.  C.  437 :  "  All  present,  aiding  and  as 
sisting,  are  equally  principal  with  him  that  gave  the 
stroke  whereof  the  party  died.  For  though  one  gave 
the  stroke,  yet  in  interpretation  of  law  it  is  the  stroke 
of  every  person  that  was  present,  aiding  and  assist- 
ing." 

i  H.  H.  P.  C.  440 :  "  If  divers  come  with  one  assent 
to  do  mischief,  as  to  kill,  to  rob  or  beat,  and  one  doeth 
it,  they  are  all  principals  in  the  felony.  If  many  be 
present  and  one  only  give  the  stroke  whereof  the 
party  dies,  they  are  all  principal,  if  they  came  for  that 
purpose." 

Now,  if  the  party  at  Dock  Square  came  with  an  in 
tention  only  to  beat  the  soldiers,  and  began  to  affray 
with  them,  and  any  of  them  had  been  accidentally  killed 
it  would  have  been  murder,  because  it  was  an  unlaw 
ful  design  they  came  upon.  If  but  one  does  it  they  are 
all  considered  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  guilty ;  if  any  one 
gives  the  mortal  stroke,  they  are  all  principals  here, 
therefore  there  is  a  reversal  of  the  scene.  If  you  are 


.112  JOHN   ADAMS. 

isatisfied  that  these  soldiers  were  there  on  a  lawful  de 
sign,  and  it  should  be  proved  any  of  them  shot  with 
out  provocation,  and  killed  anybody,  he  only  is  answer 
able  for  it. 

First  Male's  Pleas  of  the  Crown,  i  H.  H.  P.  C.  444: 
""  Although  if  many  come  upon  an  unlawful  design, 
and  one  of  the  company  kill  one  of  the  adverse  party 
in  pursuance  of  that  design,  all  are  principals;  yet  if 
many  be  together  upon  a  lawful  account,  and  one  of 
the  company  kill  another  of  the  adverse  party,  without 
any  particular  abetment  of  the  rest  to  this  fact  of 
"homicide,  they  are  not  all  guilty  that  are  of  the  com 
pany,  but  only  those  that  gave  the  stroke  or  actually 
abetted  him  to  do  it." 

i  H.  H.  P.  C.  445  :  "'In  case  of  a  riotous  assembly  to 
rob  or  steal  deer,  or  to  do  any  unlawful  act  of  violence, 
there  the  offence  of  one  is  the  offence  of  all  the  com 
pany." 

In  another  place,  i  H.  H.  P.  C.  439 :  "  The  Lord 
"Dacre  and  divers  others  went  to  steal  deer  in  the  park 
•of  one  Pellham.  Raydon,  one  of  the  company,  killed 
;the  keeper  in  the  park,  the  Lord  Dacre  and  the  rest 
xDf  the  company  being  in  the  other  part  of  the  park. 
Yet  it  was  adjudged  murder  in  them  all,  and  they 
died  for  it."  And  he  quotes  Crompton  25,  Dalton  93, 
p.  241  :  "  So  that  in  so  strong  a  case  as  this,  where 
this  nobleman  set  out  to  hunt  deer  in  the  ground  of 
;another,  he  was  in  one  part  of  the  park  and  his  com 
pany  in  another  part,  yet  they  were  all  guilty  of  mur 
der." 


JOHN   ADAMS,  II> 

The  next  is : 

Kale's  Pleas  of  the  Crown,  i  H.  H.  P.  C.  440:' 
"  The  case  of  Drayton  Bassit ;  divers  persons  doing  an 
unlawful  act,  all  are  guilty  of  what  is  done  by  one." 

Foster  353,  354 :  "  A  general  resolution  against  all 
opposers,  whether  such  resolution  appears  upon  evi 
dence  to  have  been  actually  and  implicitly  entered  into 
by  the  confederates,  or  may  reasonably  be  collected 
from  their  number,  arms  or  behavior,  at  or  before  the 
scene  of  action,  such  resolutions  so  proved  have  al 
ways  been  considered  as  strong  ingredients  in  cases- 
of  this  kind.  And  in  cases  of  homicide  committed  in 
consequence  of  them,  every  person  present,  in  the 
sense  of  the  law,  when  the  homicide  has  been  involved 
in  the  guilt  of  him  that  gave  the  mortal  blow." 

Foster :  "  The  cases  of  Lord  Dacre,  mentioned  by 
Hale,  and  of  Pudsey,  reported  by  Crompton  and  cited 
by  Hale,  turned  upon  this  point.  The  offences  they 
respectively  stood  charged  with,  as  principals,  were, 
committed  far  out  of  their  sight  and  hearing,  and  yet: 
both  were  held  to  be  present.  It  was  sufficient  that 
at  the  instant  the  facts  were  committed,  they  were  of 
the  same  party  and  upon  the  same  pursuit,  and  un 
der  the  same  engagements  and  expectations  of  mutual 
defence  and  support  with  those  that  did  the  facts." 

Thus  far  have  proceeded,  and  I  believe  it  will  not. 
be  hereafter  disputed  by  anybody,  that  this  law  ought, 
to  be  known  to  every  one  who  has  any  disposition  to- 
be  concerned  in  an  unlawful  assembly,  whatever  mis 
chief  happens  in  the  prosecution  of  the  design  they  set 
out  upon,  all  are  answerable  for  it.  It  is  necessary  we 


114  JOHN   ADAMS. 

should  consider  the  definitions  of  some  other  crimes 
as  well  as  murder;  sometimes  one  crime  gives  occa 
sion  to  another.  An  assault  is  sometimes  the  occa 
sion  of  manslaughter,  sometimes  of  excusable  homi 
cide.  It  is  necessary  to  consider  what  is  a  riot.  I 
Hawkins,  ch.  65,  §  2 :  I  shall  give  you  the  definition 
of  it: 

Were  there  not  more  than  three  persons  in 
violence,  for  the  accomplishment  of  any  design  what 
ever,  all  concerned  are  rioters/' 

Were  there  are  not  more  than  three  persons  in 
Dock  Square?  Did  they  not  agree  to  go  to  King 
Street,  and  attack  the  main  guard?  Where,  then,  is 
the  reason  for  hesitation  at  calling  it  a  riot?  If  we 
cannot  speak  the  law  as  it  is,  where  is  our  liberty? 
And  this  is  law,  that  wherever  more  than  three  per 
sons  are  gathered  together  to  accomplish  anything 
with  force,  it  is  a  riot. 

i  Hawkins,  ch.  65,  §  2 :  "  Wherever  more  than 
three  persons  use  force  and  violence,  all  who  are 
•concerned  therein  are  rioters.  But  in  some  cases 
wherein  the  law  authorizes  force,  it  is  lawful  and  com 
mendable  to  use  it.  As  for  a  sheriff  [And.  67  Poph. 
121  ],  or  constable  [3,  H.  7,  10,  6],  or  perhaps  even  for 
a  private  person  [Poph.  121,  Moore  656],  to  assemble 
a  competent  number  of  people,  in  order  with  force  to 
oppose  rebels  or  enemies  or  rioters  and  afterward,  with 
.such  force  actually  to  suppress  them/' 

I  do  not  mean  to  apply  the  word  rebel  on  this  oc- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  11$ 

casion;  I  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  ever  there 
was  one  in  Boston,  at  least  among  the  natives  of  the 
country;  but  rioters  are  in  the  same  situation,  as  far 
as  my  argument  is  concerned,  and  proper  officers  may 
suppress  rioters,  and  so  may  even  private  persons. 

If  we  strip  ourselves  free  from  all  military  laws, 
mutiny  acts,  articles  of  war  and  soldiers'  oaths,  and 
consider  these  prisoners  as  neighbors,  if  any  of  their 
neighbors  were  attacked  in  King  Street,  they  had  a 
right  to  collect  together  to  suppress  this  riot  and  com 
bination.  If  any  number  of  persons  meet  together  at 
a  fair  or  market,  and  happen  to  fall  together  by  the 
ears,  they  are  not  guilty  of  a  riot,  but  of  a  sudden  af 
fray.  Here  is  another  paragraph,  which  I  must  read 
to  you : 

i  Hawkins,  ch.  65,  §  3  :  "  If  a  number  of  persons 
being  met  together  at  a  fair  or  market,  or  on  any  other 
lawful  or  innocent  occasion,  happen,  on  a  sudden 
quarrel,  to  fall  together  by  the  ears,  they  are  not 
guilty  of  a  riot,  but  of  a  sudden  affray  only,  of  which 
none  are  guilty  but  those  who  actually  began  it,"  eta 

It  would  be  endless,  as  well  as  superfluous,  to  exam 
ine  whether  every  particular  person  engaged  in  a  riot 
\vere  in  truth  one  of  the  first  assembly  or  actually  had 
a  previous  knowledge  of  the  design  thereof.  I  have 
endeavored  to  produce  the  best  authorities,  and  to  give 
you  the  rules  of  law  in  their  words,  for  I  desire  not 
to  advance  anything  of  my  own.  I  choose  to  lay  down 
the  rules  of  law  from  authorities  which  cannot  be  dis 
puted.  Another  point  is  this,  whether  and  how  far 


3l6  JOHN   ADAMS. 

a  private  person  may  aid  another  in  distress  ?  Suppose 
a  press-gang  should  come  on  shore  in  this  town  and 
assault  any  sailor  or  householder  in  King  Street,  in 
order  to  carry  him  on  board  one  of  his  Majesty's  ships, 
and  impress  him  without  any  warrant  as  a  seaman  in 
his  Majesty's  service;  how  far  do  you  suppose  the  in 
habitants  would  think  themselves  warranted  by  law  to 
interpose  against  that  lawless  press-gang?  I  agree 
that  such  a  press-gang  would  be  as  unlawful  an  as 
sembly  as  that  was  in  King  Street.  If  they  were  to 
press  an  inhabitant  and  carry  him  off  for  a  sailor,, 
would  not  the  inhabitants  think  themselves  warrant 
ed  by  law  to  interpose  in  behalf  of  their  fellow-citi 
zen?  Now,  gentlemen,  if  the  soldiers  had  no  right  to 
interpose  in  the  relief  of  the  sentry,  the  inhabitants 
would  have  no  right  to  interpose  with  regard  to  the 
citizen,  for  whatever  is  law  for  a  soldier  is  law  for  a 
sailor  and  for  a  citizen.  They  all  stand  upon  an  equal 
footing  in  this  respect.  I  believe  we  shall  not  have  it 
disputed  that  it  would  be  lawful  to  go  into  King 
Street  and  help  an  honest  man  there  against  the 
press-master.  We  have  many  instances  in  the  books 
which  authorize  it. 

Now,  suppose  you  should  have  a  jealousy  in  your 
minds  that  the  people  who  made  this  attack  upon  the 
sentry  had  nothing  in  their  intention  more  than  to 
take  him  off  his  post,  and  that  was  threatened  by 
some.  Suppose  they  intended  to  go  a  little  further* 
and  tar  and  feather  him,  or  to  ride  him  (as  the  phrase.: 
is  in  Hudibras),  he  would  have  had  a  good  right  to/ 
have  stood  upon  his  defence — the  defence  of  his  lib 
erty;  and  if  he  could  not  preserve  that  without  the 


JOHN  ADAMS.  1 1/ 

hazard  of  his  own  life,  he  would  -have  been  warranted 
in  depriving  those  of  life  who  were  endeavoring  to 
deprive  him  of  his.  That  is  a  point  I  would  not  give 
up  for  my  right  hand — nay,  for  my  life. 

Well,  I  say,  if  the  people  did  this,  or  if  this  was  only 
their  intention,  surely  the  officers  and  soldiers  had  a 
right  to  go  to  his  relief;  and  therefore  they  set  out 
upon  a  lawful  errand.  They  were,  therefore,  a  law 
ful  assembly,  if  we  only  consider  them  as  private  sub 
jects  and  fellow-citizens,  without  regard  to  mutiny 
acts,  articles  of  war,  or  soldiers'  oaths.  A  private 
person,  or  any  number  of  private  persons,  has  a  right 
to  go  to  the  assistance  of  a  fellow  subject  in  distress 
or  danger  of  his  life,  when  assaulted  and  in  danger 
from  a  few  or  a  multitude. 

Keyl.  136:  "  If  a  man  perceives  another  by  force 
to  be  injuriously  treated,  pressed,  and  restrained  of 
his  liberty,  though  the  person  abused  doth  not  com 
plain  or  call  for  aid  or  assistance,  and  others,  out  of 
•compassion,  shall  come  to  his  rescue,  and  kill  any  of 
those  that  shall  so  restrain  him,  that  is  manslaughter." 

Keyl. :  "  A  and  others  without  any  warrant  impress 
B  to  serve  the  king  at  sea.  B  quietly  submitted,  and 
went  off  with  the  press-master.  Hugett  and  the  others 
pursued  them,  and  required  a  sight  of  their  warrant; 
"but  they  showing  a  piece  of  paper  that  was  not  a  suf 
ficient  warrant,  thereupon  Hugett  with  the  others 
-drew  their  swords,  and  the  press-masters  theirs,  and 
so  there  was  a  combat,  and  those  who  endeavored  to 
rescue  the  pressed  man  killed  one  of  the  pretended 
press-masters.  This  was  but  manslaughter ;  for  when 


Il8  JOHN  ADAMS. 

the  liberty  of  one  subject  is  invaded,  it  affects  all  the 
rest.  It  is  a  provocation  to  all  people,  as  being  of  ill- 
example  and  pernicious  consequences." 

Lord  Raymond,  1,301.  The  Queen  versus  Tooley, 
et  al.  Lord  Chief- Justice  Holt  says :  "The  prisoner 
{i.e.  Tooley)  in  this  had  sufficient  provocation;  for  if 
one  be  impressed  upon  an  unlawful  authority,  it  is  a 
sufficient  provocation  to  all  people  out  of  compassion; 
and  where  the  liberty  of  the  subject  is  invaded,  it  is  a 
provocation  to  all  the  subjects  of  England,  etc. ;  and 
surely  a  man  ought  to  be  concerned  for  Magna  Charta 
and  the  laws;  and  if  any  one,  against  the  law,  im 
prisons  a  man,  he  is  an  offender  against  Magna 
Charta." 

I  am  not  insensible  to  Sir  Michael  Foster's  observa 
tions  on  these  cases,  but  apprehend  they  do  not  invali 
date  the  authority  of  them  as  far  as  I  now  apply  them 
to  the  purposes  of  my  argument.  If  a  stranger,  a 
mere  fellow-subject,  may  interpose  to  defend  the  lib 
erty,  he  may,  too,  defend  the  life  of  another  individu 
al.  But,  according  to  the  evidence,  some  imprudent 
people,  before  the  sentry,  proposed  to  take  him  off  his 
post ;  others  threatened  his  life ;  and  intelligence  of  this 
was  carried  to  the  main  guard  before  any  of  the  pris 
oners  turned  out.  They  were  then  ordered  out  to 
relieve  the  sentry;  and  any  of  our  fellow-citizens 
might  lawfully  have  gone  upon  the  same  errand.  Th^.y 
were,  therefore,  a  lawful  assembly. 

I  have  but  one  point  of  law  more  to  consider,  and 
that  is  this :  In  the  case  before  you  I  do  not  pretend 
to  prove  that  every  one  of  the  unhappy  persons  slain 


JOHN   ADAMS.  119 

was  concerned  in  the  riot.  The  authorities  read  to 
you  just  now  say  it  would  be  endless  to  prove  wheth 
er  every  person  that  was  present  and  in  a  riot  was 
concerned  in  planning  the  first  enterprise  or  not.  Nay, 
I  believe  it  but  justice  to  say  some  were  perfectly  in 
nocent  of  the  occasion.  I  have  reason  to  suppose  that 
one  of  them  was — Mr.  Maverick.  He  was  a  very 
worthy  young  man,  as  he  has  been  represented  to  me, 
and  had  no  concern  in  the  rioters'  proceedings  of  that 
night ;  and  I  believe  the  same  may  be  said  in  favor  of 
one  more  at  least,  Mr.  Caldwell,  who  was  slain;  and, 
therefore,  many  people  may  think  that  as  he  and  per 
haps  another  was  innocent,  therefore  innocent  blood 
having  been  shed,  that  must  be  expiated  by  the  death 
of  somebody  or  other.  I  take  notice  of  this,  because 
one  gentleman  was  nominated  by  the  sheriff  for  a 
juryman  upon  this  trial,  because  he  had  said  he  be 
lieved  Captain  Preston  was  innocent,  but  innocent 
blood  had  been  shed,  and  therefore  somebody  ought 
to  be  hanged  for  it,  which  he  thought  was  indirectly 
giving  his  opinion  in  this  cause.  I  am  afraid  many 
other  persons  have  formed  such  an  opinion.  I  do  not 
take  it  to  be  a  rule,  that  where  innocent  blood  is  shed 
the  person  must  die.  In  the  instance  of  the  French 
men  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  they  were  in 
nocent,  fighting  for  their  king  and  country; 
their  blood  is  as  innocent  as  any.  There  may 
be  multitudes  killed,  when  innocent  blood  is 
shed  on  all  sides;  so  that  it  is  not  an  invariable 
rule.  I  will  put  a  case  in  which,  I  dare  say,  all  will 
agree  with  me.  Here  are  two  persons,  the  father  and 
the  son,  go  out  a-hunting.  They  take  different  roads. 


\20  JOHN   ADAMS. 

The  father  hears  a  rushing  among  the  bushes,  takes 
it  to  be  game,  fires,  and  kills  his  son,  through  a  mis 
take.  Here  is  innocent  blood  shed,  but  yet  nobody  will 
say  the  father  ought  to  die  for  it.  So  that  the  gen 
eral  rule  of  law  is,  that  whenever  one  person  has  a 
right  to  do  an  act,  and  that  act,  by  any  accident,  takes 
away  the  life  of  another,  it  is  excusable.  It  bears  the 
same  regard  to  the  innocent  as  to  the  guilty.  If  two 
men  are  together,  and  attack  me,  and  I  have  a  right 
to  kill  them,  I  strike  at  them,  and  by  mistake  strike  a 
third  and  kill  him,  as  I  had  a  right  to  kill  the  first,  my 
killing  the  other  will  be  excusable,  as  it  happened  by 
accident.  If  I,  in  the  heat  of  passion,  aim  a  blow  at  a 
person  who  has  assaulted  me,  and  aiming  at  him  I  kill 
another  person,  it  is  but  manslaughter. 

Foster,  261,  §  3  :  "  If  an  action  unlawful  in  itself  is 
done  deliberately,  and  with  intention  of  mischief,  or 
great  bodily  harm  to  particulars,  or  of  mischief  indis 
criminately,  fall  it  where  it  may,  and  death  ensues, 
against  or  beside  the  original  intention  of  the  party, 
it  will  be  murder.  But  if  such  mischievous  intention 
doth  not  appear,  which  is  matter  of  fact,  and  to  be 
collected  from  circumstances,  and  the  act  was  done 
heedlessly  and  inconsiderately,  it  will  be  manslaugh 
ter,  not  accidental  death;  because  the  act  upon 
which  death  ensued  was  unlawful." 

Suppose,  in  this  case,  the  mulatto  man  was  the  per 
son  who  made  the  assault;  suppose  he  was  concerned 
in  the  unlawful  assembly,  and  this  party  of  soldiers, 
endeavoring  to  defend  themselves  against  him,  hap- 


JOHN   ADAMS.  121 

pened  to  kill  another  person,  who  was  innocent — 
though  the  soldiers  had  no  reason,  that  we  know  of,  to 
think  any  person  there,  at  least  of  that  number  who 
were  crowding  about  them,  innocent ;  they  might,  na 
turally  enough,  presume  all  to  be  guilty  of  the  riot 
and  assault,  and  to  come  with  the  same  design — I  say, 
if  on  firing  on  those  who  were  guilty,  they  accidental 
ly  killed  an  innocent  person,  it  was  not  their  fault. 
They  were  obliged  to  defend  themselves  against  those 
who  were  pressing  upon  them.  They  are  not  answer 
able  for  it  with  their  lives;  for  on  supposition  it  was 
justifiable  or  excusable  to  kill  Attucks,  or  any  other 
person,  it  will  be  equally  justifiable  or  excusable  if  in 
firing  at  him  they  killed  another,  who  was  innocent; 
or  if  the  provocation  was  such  as  to  mitigate  the  guilt 
of  manslaughter,  it  will  equally  mitigate  the  guilt,  if 
they  killed  an  innocent  man  undesignedly,  in  aiming 
at  him  who  gave  the  provocation,  according  to  Judge 
Foster;  and  as  this  point  is  of  such  consequence,  I 
must  produce  some  more  authorities  for  it : 

i  Hawkins,  84 :  "  Also,  if  a  third  person,  acci 
dentally  Happen  to  be  killed  by  one  engaged  in  a  com 
bat,  upon  a  sudden  quarrel,  it  seems  that  he  who  killed 
him  is  guilty  of  manslaughter  only,"  etc.  H.  H. 
P.  C,  442,  to  the  same  point;  and  i  H.  H.  P.  C.,  484, 
and  4  Black,  27. 

I  shall  now  consider  one  question  more,  and  that 
is  concerning  provocation.  We  have  hitherto  been 
considering  self-defence,  and  how  far  persons  may 
go  in  defending  themselves  against  aggressors,  even 
by  taking  away  their  lives,  and  now  proceed  to  con- 


122  JOHN  ADAMS. 

sider  such  provocations  as  the  law  allows  to  mitigate 
or  extenuate  the  guilt  of  killing,  where  it  is  not  justi 
fiable  or  excusable.  An  assault  and  battery  commit 
ted  upon  a  man  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  endanger 
his  life  is  such  a  provocation  as  the  law  allows  to  re 
duce  killing  down  to  the  crime  of  manslaughter.  Now, 
the  law  has  been  made  on  more  considerations  than 
we  are  capable  of  making  at  present;  the  law  consid 
ers  a  man  as  capable  of  bearing  anything  and  every 
thing  but  blows.  I  may  reproach  a  man  as  much  as 
I  please;  I  may  call  him  a  thief,  robber,  traitor,  scoun 
drel,  coward,  lobster,  bloody  back,  etc.,  and  if  he  kill 
me  it  will  be  murder,  if  nothing  else  but  words  pre 
cede;  but  if  from  giving  him  such  kind  of 'language  I 
proceed  to  take  him  by  the  nose,  or  fillip  him  on  the 
forehead,  that  is  an  assault;  that  is  a  blow.  The  law 
will  not  oblige  a  man  to  stand  still  and  bear  it;  there 
is  the  distinction.  Hands  off;  touch  me  not.  As  soon 
as  you  touch  me,  if  I  run  you  through  the  heart,  it  is 
but  manslaughter.  The  utility  of  this  distinction,  the 
more  you  think  of  it  the  more  you  will  be  satisfied 
with  it.  It  is  an  assault  whenever  a  blow  is  struck, 
let  it  be  ever  so  slight,  and  sometimes  even  without  a 
blow.  The  law  considers  man  as  frail  and  passion 
ate.  When  his  passions  are  touched,  he  will  be  thrown 
off  his  guard,  and  therefore  the  law  makes  allowance 
for  this  frailty — considers  him  as  in  a  fit  of  passion, 
not  having  the  possession  of  his  intellectual  faculties, 
and  therefore  does  not  oblige  him  to  measure  out  his 
blows  with  a  yardstick,  or  weigh  them  in  a  scale.  Let 
him  kill  with  a  sword,  gun,  or  hedge-stake,  it  is  not 
murder,  but  only  manslaughter. 


JOHN   ADAMS.  123 

Keyling's  Report,  135.  Regina  versus  Mawgrige. 
"Rules  supported  by  authority  and  general  consent, 
showing  what  are  always  allowed  to  be  sufficient 
provocations.  First,  if  one  man  upon  any  words  shall 
make  an  assault  upon  another,  either  by  pulling  him 
by  the  nose  or  filliping  him  on  the  forehead,  and  he 
that  is  so  assaulted  shall  draw  his  sword  and  immedi 
ately  run  the  other  through,  that  is  but  manslaughter, 
for  the  peace  is  broken  by  the  person  killed,  and 
with  an  indignity  to  him  that  received  the  assault.  Be 
sides,  he  that  was  so  affronted  might  reasonably  ap 
prehend  that  he  that  treated  him  in  that  manner 
might  have  some  further  design  upon  him." 

So  that  here  is  the  boundary,  when  a  man  is  as 
saulted  and  kills  in  consequence  of  that  assault,  it  is 
but  manslaughter.  I  will  just  read  as  I  go  along  the 
definition  of  assault : 

i  Hawkins,  ch.  62,  §  i  :  "  An  assault  is  an  attempt 
or  offer,  with  force  or  violence,  to  do  a  corporal  hurt 
to  another,  as  by  striking  at  him  with  or  without  a 
weapon,  or  presenting  a  gun  at  him  at  such  a  distance 
to  which  the  gun  will  carry,  or  pointing  a  pitchfork 
at  him,  or  by  any  other  such  like  t  done  in  angry, 
threatening  manner,  etc. ;  but  no  words  can  amount 
to  an  assault." 

Here  is  the  definition  of  an  assault,  which  is  a  suf 
ficient  provocation  to  soften  killing  down  to  man 
slaughter  : 

i   Hawkins,   ch.   31,   §   36:     "Neither  can  he  be 


124  JOHN   ADAMS. 

thought  guilty  of  a  greater  crime  than  manslaughter, 
who,  finding  a  man  in  bed  with  his  wife,  or  being  ac 
tually  struck  by  him,  or  pulled  by  the  nose  or  filliped 
upon  the  forehead,  immediately  kills  him,  or  in  the 
defence  of  his  person  from  an  unlawful  arrest,  or  in 
the  defence  of  his  house  from  those  who,  claiming  a 
title  to  it,  attempt  forcibly  to  enter  it,  and  to  that  pur 
pose  shoot  at  it,"  etc. 

Every  snowball,  oyster  shell,  cake  of  ice,  or  bit  of 
cinder,  that  was  thrown  that  night  at  the  sentinel,  was 
an  assault  upon  him;  every  one  that  was  thrown  at 
t^ie  party  of  soldiers  was  an  assault  upon  themr 
whether  it  hit  any  of  them  or  not.  I  am  guilty  of  an 
assault  if  I  present  a  gun  at  any  person;  and  if  I  in 
sult  him  in  that  manner  and  he  shoots  me,  it  is  but 
manslaughter. 

Foster,  295,  296:  "To  what  I  have  offered  with 
regard  to  sudden  rencounters  let  me  add,  that  the 
blood  already  too  much  heated,  kindleth  afresh  at  ev 
ery  pass  or  blow.  And  in  the  tumult  of  the  passions, 
in  which  the  mere  instinct  of  self-preservation  has  no 
inconsiderable  share,  the  voice  of  reason  is  not  heard ; 
and  therefore  the  law,  in  condescension  to  the  infirm 
ities  of  flesh  and  blood,  doth  extenuate  the  offence." 

Insolent,  scurrilous,  or  slanderous  language,  when 
it  precedes  an  assault,  aggravates  it. 

Foster,  316:  "We  all  know  that  words  of  re 
proach,  how  grating  and  offensive  soever,  are  in  the 
eye  of  the  law  no  provocation  in  the  case  of  voluntary 


JOHN   ADAMS.  1 25 

homicide ;  and  yet  every  man  who  hath  considered  the 
human  frame,  or  but  attended  to  the  workings  of  his 
own  heart,  knoweth  that  affronts  of  that  kind  pierce 
deeper  and  stimulate  in  the  veins  more  effectually 
than  a  slight  injury  done  to  a  third  person,  though 
under  the  color  of  justice,  possibly  can." 

I  produce  this  to  show  the  assault  in  this  case  was 
aggravated  by  the  scurrilous  language  which  preced 
ed  it.  Such  words  of  reproach  stimulate  in  the  veins 
and  exasperate  the  mind,  and  no  doubt  if  an  assault 
and  battery  succeeds  them,  killing  under  such  provo 
cation  is  softened  to  manslaughter,  but  killing  with 
out  such  provocation  makes  it  murder. 


126  PATRICK   HENRY. 

Henry,  Patrick,  a  celebrated  American  orator  and  pa 
triot,  born  at  Studley,  Hanover  Co.,  Va.,  May  29,  1736  ; 
died  at  Red  Hill,  Charlotte  Co.,  Va.,  June  6,  1799.  Adopt 
ing,  the  profession  of  law,  he  quickly  secured  a  large  prac 
tice,  and  in  May,  1765,  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses.  The  news  of  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act  had 
just  been  received  in  America  and  Henry  at  once  introduced 
before  the  House  resolutions  "condemning  the  Act  as  un 
constitutional  and  a  menace  to  liberty,  supporting  them  by 
a  speech  of  the  most  impassioned  eloquence  which  made 
him  famous  from  that  moment.  Other  notable  speeches  of 
his  are  those  on  "  The  Bill  of  Rights,"  "  A  Nation — not  a 
Federation,"  "  Liberty  or  Empire,"  The  somewhat  extrav 
agant  judgment  of  some  of  his  American  contemporaries 
classed  him  as  the  greatest  of  orators,  but  without  going  to 
such  lengths  it  may  be  said  that  his  place  is  with  the  great 
est.  Henry  was  five  times  governor  of  the  State  of  Vir 
ginia,  but  declined  all  public  office  after  1786. 


"GIVE  ME  LIBERTY  OR  GIVE  ME  DEATH." 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  VIRGINIA  CONVENTION,  ON  A  RESO 
LUTION   TO    PUT   THE    COMMONWEALTH    INTO    A 
STATE  OF  DEFENCE,   MARCH   23,    1775. 

Mr.  President : 

No  MAN  thinks  more  highly  than  I  do  of  the  patri 
otism,  as  well  as  abilities,  of  the  very  worthy  gentle 
men  who  have  just  addressed  the  house.  But  dif 
ferent  men  often  see  the  same  subject  in  different 
lights;  and,  therefore,  I  hope  it  will  not^De  thought 
disrespectful  to  those  gentlemen,  if,  entertaining  as 
I  do  opinions  of  a  character  very  opposite  to  theirs,  I 


PATRICK   HENRY. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  I2/ 

shall  speak  forth  my  sentiments  freely  and  without  re 
serve.  This  is  no  time  for  ceremony.  The  question 
before  the  house  is  one  of  awful  moment  to  this  coun 
try.  For  my  own  part,  I  consider  it  as  nothing  less 
than  a  question  of  freedom  or  slavery ;  and  in  propor 
tion  to  the  magnitude  of  the  subject  ought  to  be  the 
freedom  of  the  debate.  It  is  only  in  this  way  that  we 
can  hope  to  arrive  at  truth,  and  fulfil  the  great  re 
sponsibility  which  we  hold  to  God  and  our  country. 
Should  I  keep  back  my  opinions  at  such  a  time, 
through  fear  of  giving  offence,  I  should  consider  my 
self  as  guilty  of  treason  toward  my  country,  and  of  an 
act  of  disloyalty  toward  the  Majesty  of  Heaven,  which 
I  revere  above  all  earthly  kings. 

Mr.  President,  it  is  natural  to  man  to  indulge  in  the 
illusions  of  hope.  We  are  apt  to  shut  our  eyes 
against  a  painful  truth,  and  listen  to  the  song  of  that 
siren,  till  she  transforms  us  into  beasts.  Is  this  the 
part  of  wise  men,  engaged  in  a  great  and  arduous 
struggle  for  liberty?  Are  we  disposed  to  be  of  the 
number  of  those,  who,  having  eyes,  see  not,  and  hav 
ing  ears,  hear  not,  the  things  which  so  nearly  concern 
their  temporal  salvation?  For  my  part,  whatever 
anguish  of  spirit  it  may  cost,  I  am  willing  to  know  the 
whole  truth ;  to  know  the  worst,  and  to  provide  for  it. 

I  have  but  one  lamp  by  which  my  feet  are  guided, 
and  that  is  the  lamp  of  experience.  I  know  of  no  way 
of  judging  of  the  future  by  the  past.  And  judging 
by  the  past,  I  wish  to  know  what  there  has  been  in  the 
conduct  of  the  British  Ministry  for  the  last  ten  years 
to  justify  those  hopes  with  which  gentlemen  have  been 
pleased  to  solace  themselves  and  the  house.  Is  it  that 


128  PATRICK   HENRY. 

insidious  smile  with  which  our  petition  has  been  late 
ly  received?  Trust  it  not,  sir;  it  will  prove  a  snare 
to  your  feet.  Suffer  not  yourselves  to  be  betrayed  with 
a  kiss.  Ask  yourselves  how  this  gracious  reception  of 
our  petition  comports  with  those  warlike  preparations 
which  cover  our  waters  and  darken  our  land.  Are  fleets, 
and  armies  necessary  to  a  work  of  love  and  reconcilia 
tion  ?  Have  we  shown  ourselves  so  unwilling  to  be  rec 
onciled,  that  force  must  be  called  in  to  win  back  our 
love?  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves,  sir.  These  are 
the  implements  of  war  and  subjugation ;  the  last  argu 
ments  to  which  kings  resort.  I  ask  gentlemen,  sir, 
What  means  this  martial  array,  if  its  purpose  be  not 
to  force  us  to  submission  ?  Can  gentlemen  assign  any 
other  possible  motive  for  it?  Has  Great  Britain  any 
enemy,  in  this  quarter  of  the  world,  to  call  for  all  this 
accumulation  of  navies  and  armies?  No,  sir,  she  has 
none.  They  are  meant  for  us :  they  can  be  meant  for 
no  other.  They  are  sent  over  to  bind  and  rivet  upon 
us  those  chains  which  the  British  Ministry  have  been 
so  long  forging.  And  what  have  we  to  oppose  ta 
them?  Shall  we  try  argument?  Sir,  we  have  been 
trying  that  for  the  last  ten  years.  Have  we  anything 
new  to  offer  upon  the  subject?  Nothing.  We  have 
held  the  subject  up  in  every  light  of  which  it  is  capa 
ble;  but  it  has  been  all  in  vain.  Shall  we  resort  to 
entreaty  and  humble  supplication?  What  terms  shall 
we  find,  which  have  not  been  already  exhausted  ?  Let 
us  not,  I  beseech  you,  sir,  deceive  ourselves  longer. 
Sir,  we  have  done  everything  that  could  be  done,  to 
avert  the  storm  which  is  now  coming  on.  We  have 
petitioned ;  we  have  remonstrated ;  we  have  supplicat- 


PATRICK    HENRY.  1 29 

eel;  we  have  prostrated  ourselves  before  the  throne, 
and  have  implored  its  interposition  to  arrest  the  tyran 
nical  hands  of  the  Ministry  and  Parliament.  Our  pe 
titions  have  been  slighted;  our  remonstrances  have 
produced  additional  violence  and  insult;  our  supplica 
tions  have  been  disregarded ;  and  we  have  been  spurn 
ed,  with  contempt,  from  the  foot  of  the  throne.  In 
vain,  after  these  things,  may  we  indulge  the  fond  hope 
of  peace  and  reconciliation.  There  is  no  longer  any 
room  for  hope.  If  we  wish  to  be  free — if  we  mean  to 
preserve  inviolate  those  inestimable  privileges  for 
which  we  have  been  so  long  contending — if  we  mean 
not  basely  to  abandon  the  noble  struggle  in  which 
we  have  been  so  long  engaged,  and  which  we  have 
pledged  ourselves  never  to  abandon,  until  the  glorious 
object  of  our  contest  shall  be  obtained — we  must 
fight!  I  repeat  it,  sir,  we  must  fight!  An  appeal  to 
arms  and  to  the  God  of  Hosts  is  all  that  is  left  for  us ! 
They  tell  us,  sir,  that  we  are  weak;  unable  to  cope 
with  so  formidable  an  adversary.  But  when  shall  we 
be  stronger?  Will  it  be  the  next  week,  or  the  next 
year?  Will  it  be  when  we  are  totally  disarmed,  and 
when  a  British  guard  shall  be  stationed  in  every 
house  ?  Shall  we  gather  strength  by  irresolution  and 
inaction?  Shall  we  acquire  the  means  of  effectual  re 
sistance  by  lying  supinely  on  our  backs  and  hugging 
the  delusive  phantom  of  hope,  until  our  enemies  shall 
have  bound  us  hand  and  foot  ?  Sir,  we  are  not  weak, 
if  we  make  a  proper  use  of  those  means  which  the 
God  of  nature  hath  placed  in  our  power.  Three  mil 
lions  of  people,  armed  in  the  holy  cause  of  liberty, 
and  in  such  a  country  as  that  which  we  possess,  are 
9 


130  PATRICK   HENRY. 

invincible  by  any  force  which  our  enemy  can  send 
against  us.  Besides,  sir,  we  shall  not  fight  our  battles 
alone.  There  is  a  just  God  who  presides  over  the 
destinies  of  nations,  and  who  will  raise  up  friends  to 
fight  our  battles  for  us.  The  battle,  sir,  is  not  to  the 
strong  alone;  it  is  to  the  vigilant,  the  active,  the 
brave.  Besides,  sir,  we  have  no  election.  If  we  were 
base  enough  to  desire  it,  it  is  now  too  late  to  retire 
from  the  contest.  There  is  no  retreat,  but  in  submis 
sion  and  slavery!  Our  chains  are  forged!  Their 
clanking  may  be  heard  on  the  plains  of  Boston !  The 
war  is  inevitable — and  let  it  come.  I  repeat  it,  sir,  let 
it  come.  * 

It  is  in  vain,  sir,  to  extenuate  the  matter.  Gentle 
men  may  cry,  Peace,  Peace — but  there  is  no  peace. 
The  war  is  actually  begun !  The  next  gale  that  sweeps 
from  the  north  will  bring  to  our  ears  the  clash  of  re 
sounding  arms!  Our  brethren  are  already  in  the 
field!  Why  stand  we  here  idle?  What  is  it  that 
gentlemen  wish  ?  What  would  they  have  ?  Is  life  so 
dear,  or  peace  so  sweet,  as  to  be  purchased  at  the 
price  of  chains  and  slavery?  Forbid  it,  Almighty 
God !  I  know  not  what  course  others  may  take ;  but 
as  for  me,  give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death ! 


PATRICK   HENRY.  131 


"WE,  THE  PEOPLE"  OR  "WE,  THE  STATES"  ? 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  VIRGINIA   CONVENTION,,   JUNE  4, 

1778,  ON  THE  PREAMBLE  AND  THE  FIRST  TWO 

SECTIONS  OF  THE  FIRST  ARTICLE  OF  THE 

FEDERAL       CONSTITUTION. 
Mr,  Chairman  : 

THE  public  mind,  as  well  as  my  own,  is  extremely 
uneasy  at  the  proposed  change  of  government.  Give 
me  leave  to  form  one  of  the  number  of  those  who 
wish  to  be  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  reasons  of 
this  perilous  and  uneasy  situation,  and  why  we  are 
brought  hither  to  decide  on  this  great  national  ques 
tion.  I  consider  myself  as  the  servant  of  the  people  of 
this  Commonwealth,  as  a  sentinel  over  their  rights, 
liberty,  and  happiness.  I  represent  their  feelings 
when  I  say  that  they  are  exceedingly  uneasy,  being 
brought  from  that  state  of  full  security,  which  they 
enjoy,  to  the  present  delusive  appearance  of  things. 
Before  the  meeting  of  the  late  Federal  Convention  at 
Philadelphia,  a  general  peace  and  a  universal  tran 
quillity  prevailed  in  this  country,  and  the  minds  of 
our  citizens  were  at  perfect  repose ;  but  since  that  per 
iod  they  are  exceedingly  uneasy  and  disquieted. 
When  I  wished  for  an  appointment  to  this  convention, 
my  mind  was  extremely  agitated  for  the  situation  of 
public  affairs.  I  conceive  the  Republic  to  be  in  ex 
treme  danger.  If  our  situation  be  thus  uneasy, 
whence  has  arisen  this  fearful  jeopardy?  It  arises 
from  this  fatal  system;  it  arises  from  a  proposal  to 

change  our  government — a  proposal  that  goes  to  the 
S—i 


132  PATRICK   HENRY. 

utter  annihilation  of  the  most  solemn  engagements 
of  the  States — a  proposal  of  establishing  nine  States 
into  a  confederacy,  to  the  eventual  exclusion  of  four 
States.  It  goes  to  the  annihilation  of  these  solemn 
treaties  we  have  formed  with  foreign  nations.  The 
present  circumstances  of  France,  the  good  offices  ren 
dered  us  by  that  kingdom,  require  our  most  faithful 
and  most  punctual  adherence  to  our  treaty  with  her. 
We  are  in  alliance  with  the  Spaniards,  the  Dutch,  the 
Prussians;  those  treaties  bound  us  as  thirteen  States, 
confederated  together.  Yet  here  is  a  proposal  to 
sever  that  confederacy.  Is  it  possible  that  we  shall 
abandon  all  our  treaties  and  national  engagements? 
And  for  what  ?  I  expected  to  have  heard  the  reasons 
of  an  event  so  unexpected  to  my  mind,  and  many 
others.  Was  our  civil  polity,  or  public  justice,  endan 
gered  or  sapped  ?  Was  the  real  existence  of  the  coun 
try  threatened,  or  was  this  preceded  by  a  mournful 
progression  of  events  ?  This  proposal  of  altering  our 
Federal  Government  is  of  a  most  alarming  nature; 
make  the  best  of  this  new  government — say  it  is  com 
posed  of  anything  but  inspiration — you  ought  to  be  ex 
tremely  cautious,  watchful,  jealous  of  your  liberty; 
for,  instead  of  securing  your  rights,  you  may  lose  them 
forever.  If  a  wrong  step  be  now  made,  the  Republic 
may  be  lost  forever.  If  this  new  government  will 
not  come  up  to  the  expectation  of  the  people,  and  they 
should  be  disappointed,  their  liberty  will  be  lost,  and 
tyranny  must  and  will  arise.  I  repeat  it  again,  and  I 
beg  gentlemen  to  consider,  that  a  wrong  step,  made 
now,  will  plunge  us  into  misery,  and  our  Republic  will 
be  lost.  It  will  be  necessary  for  this  convention  to 


PATRICK   HENRY.  133 

have  a  faithful  historical  detail  of  the  facts  that  pre 
ceded  the  session  of  the  Federal  Convention,  and  the 
reasons  that  actuated  its  members  in  proposing  an  en 
tire  alteration  of  government — and  to  demonstrate 
the  dangers  that  awaited  us.  If  they  were  of  such 
awful  magnitude  as  to  warrant  a  proposal  so  extreme 
ly  perilous  as  this,  I  must  assert  that  this  convention 
has  an  absolute  right  to  a  thorough  discovery  of  ev 
ery  circumstance  relative  to  this  great  event.  And 
here  I  would  make  this  inquiry  of  those  worthy  char 
acters  who  composed  a  part  of  the  late  Federal  Con 
vention.  I  am  sure  they  were  fully  impressed  with 
the  necessity  of  forming  a  great  consolidated  govern 
ment,  instead  of  a  confederation.  That  this  is  a  con 
solidated  government  is  demonstrably  clear,  and  the 
danger  of  such  a  government  is,  to  my  mind,  very 
striking.  I  have  the  highest  veneration  for  those 
gentlemen;  but,  sir,  give  me  leave  to  demand  what 
right  had  they  to  say,  "  We,  the  People  "  ?  My  polit 
ical  curiosity,  exclusive  of  my  anxious  solicitude  for 
the  public  welfare,  leads  me  to  ask  who  authorized 
them  to  speak  the  language  of  "We,  the  People,"  in 
stead  of  "  We,  the  States  "  ?  States  are  the  charac 
teristics  and  the  soul  of  a  confederation.  If  the  States 
be  not  the  agents  of  this  compact,  it  must  be  one  great 
consolidated  national  government  of  the  people  of  all 
the  States.  I  have  the  highest  respect  for  those  gentle 
men  who  formed  the  convention;  and  were  some  of 
them  not  here,  I  would  express  some  testimonial  of  es 
teem  for  them.  America  had,  on  a  former  occasion, 
put  the  utmost  confidence  in  them — a  confidence 
which  was  well  placed;  and  I  am  sure,  sir,  I  would 


134  PATRICK  HENRY. 

give  up  anything  to  them ;  I  would  cheerfully  confide 
in  them  as  my  representatives.  But,  sir,  on  this  great 
occasion,  I  would  demand  the  cause  of  their  conduct. 
Even  from  that  illustrious  man,  who  saved  us  by  his 
valor,  I  would  have  a  reason  for  his  conduct;  that 
liberty,  which  he  has  given  us  by  his  valor  tells  me  to 
ask  this  reason,  and  sure  I  am,  were  he  here,  he  would 
give  us  that  reason:  but  there  are  other  gentlemen 
here  who  can  give  us  this  information.  The  people 
gave  them  no  power  to  use  their  name.  That  they 
exceeded  their  power  is  perfectly  clear.  It  is  not 
mere  curiosity  that  actuates  me;  I  wish  to  hear  the 
real,  actual,  existing  danger,  which  should  lead  us 
to  take  those  steps  so  dangerous  in  my  conception. 
Disorders  have  arisen  in  other  parts  of  America,  but 
here,  sir,  no  dangers,  no  insurrection  or  tumult,  has 
happened;  everything  has  been  calm  and  tranquil. 
But  notwithstanding  -this,  we  are  wandering  on  the 
great  ocean  of  human  affairs.  I  see  no  landmark  to 
guide  us.  We  are  running  we  know  not  whither.  Dif 
ference  in  opinion  has  gone  to  a  degree  of  inflamma 
tory  resentment  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
which  has  been  occasioned  by  this  perilous  innovation. 
The  Federal  Convention  ought  to  have  amended  the 
old  system ;  for  this  purpose  they  were  solely  delegat 
ed:  the  object  of  their  mission  extended  to  no  other 
consideration.  You  must  therefore  forgive  the  solici 
tation  of  one  unworthy  member  to  know  what  danger 
could  have  arisen  under  the  present  confederation, 
and  what  are  the  causes  of  this  proposal  to  change  our 
government. 


PATRICK   HENRY.  135 


"A   NATION— NOT   A   FEDERATION." 

DELIVERED    IN     THE    VIRGINIA     CONVENTION    ON    THE 
EIGHTH   SECTION  OF  THE  FEDERAL 

CONSTITUTION. 
Mr.  Chairman  : 

IT  is  now  confessed  that  this  is  a  national  govern 
ment.  There  is  not  a  single  federal  feature  in  it.  It 
has  been  alleged,  within  these  walls,  during  the  de 
bates,  to  be  national  and  federal,  as  it  suited  the 
arguments  of  gentlemen. 

But  now,  when  we  have  heard  of  the  definition  of  it, 
it  is  purely  national.  The  honorable  member  was 
pleased  to  say  that  the  sword  and  purse  included 
everything  of  consequence.  And  shall  we  trust  them 
out  of  our  hands  without  checks  and  barriers?  The 
sword  and  purse  are  essentially  necessary  for  the 
government.  Every  essential  requisite  must  be  in 
Congress.  Where  are  the  purse  and  sword  of  Vir 
ginia?  They  must  go  to  Congress.  What  is  become 
of  your  country?  The  Virginian  government  is  but 
a  name.  It  clearly  results,  from  his  last  argument, 
that  wre  are  to  be  consolidated..  We  should  be 
thought  unwise,  indeed,  to  keep  two  hundred  legisla 
tors  in  Virginia,  when  the  government  is,  in  fact,  gone 
to  Philadelphia  or  New  York.  We  are,  as  a  State,  to 
form  no  part  of  the  government.  Where  are  your 
checks?  The  most  essential  objects  of  government 
are  to  be  administered  by  Congress.  How,  then,  can 
the  State  governments  be  any  check  upon  them?  If 
we  are  to  be  a  republican  government,  it  will  be  con 
solidated,  not  confederated. 


136  PATRICK   HENRY. 

The  means,  says  the  gentleman,  must  be  commens 
urate  to  the  end.  How  does  this  apply  ?  All  things  in 
common  are  left  with  this  government.  There  being* 
an  infinitude  in  the  government,  there  must  be  an  in 
finitude  of  means  to  carry  it  on.  This  is  a  sort  of 
mathematical  government  that  may  appear  well  on 
paper,  but  cannot  sustain  examination,  or  be  safely  re 
duced  to  practice.  The  delegation  of  power  to  an  ade 
quate  number  of  representatives,  and  an  unimpeded 
reversion  of  it  back  to  the  people,  at  short  periods, 
form  the  principal  traits  of  a  republican  government. 
The  idea  of  a  republican  government,  in  that  paper, 
is  something  superior  to  the  poor  people.  The  govern 
ing  persons  are  the  servants  of  the  people.  There,  the 
servants  are  greater  than  their  masters ;  because  it  in 
cludes  infinitude,  and  infinitude  excludes  every  idea 
of  subordination.  In  this  the  creature  has  destroyed 
and  soared  above  the  creator.  For  if  its  powers  be 
infinite,  what  rights  have  the  people  remaining?  By 
that  very  argument,  despotism  has  made  way  in  all 
countries  where  the  people  unfortunately  have  been 
enslaved  by  it.  We  are  told,  the  sword  and  purse  are 
necessary  for  the-  national  defence.  The  junction  of 
these,  without  limitation,  in  the  same  hands,  is,  by 
logical  and  mathematical  conclusions,  the  description 
of  despotism. 

The  reasons  adduced  here  to-day  have  long  ago 
been  advanced  in  favor  of  passive  obedience  and  non- 
•resistance.  In  1688,  the  British  nation  expelled  their 
monarch  for  attempting  to  trample  on  their  liberties. 
The  doctrine  of  Divine  Right  and  Passive  Obedience 
was  said  to  be  commanded  by  Heaven — it  was  incul- 


PATRICK   HENRY.  137 

cated  by  his  minions  and  adherents.  He  wanted  to 
possess,  without  control,  the  sword  and  the  purse. 
The  attempt  cost  him  his  crown.  This  government 
demands  the  same  powers.  I  see  reason  to  be  more 
and  more  alarmed.  I  fear  it  will  terminate  in  despot 
ism.  As  to  his  objection  of  the  abuse  of  liberty,  it  is 
denied.  The  political  inquiries  and  promotions  of  the 
peasants  are  a  happy  circumstance.  A  foundation  of 
knowledge  is  a  great  mark  of  happiness.  When  the 
spirit  of  inquiry  after  political  discernment  goes  forth 
among  the  lowest  of  the  people,  it  rejoices  my  heart. 
Why  such  fearful  apprehensions  ?  I  defy  him  to  show 
that  liberty  has  been  abused.  There  has  been  no  re 
bellion  here,  though  there  was  in  Massachusetts.  Tell 
me  of  any  country  which  has  been  so  long  without  a 
rebellion.  Distresses  have  been  patiently  borne  in  this 
country,  which  would  have  produced  revolutions  in 
other  countries.  We  strained  every  nerve  to  make 
provisions  to  pay  off  our  soldiers  and  officers.  They, 
though  not  paid,  and  greatly  distressed  at  the  conclu 
sion  of  the  war,  magnanimously  acquiesced.  The  de 
preciation  of  the  circulating  currency  very  much  in 
volved  many  of  them,  and  thousands  of  other  citizens, 
in  absolute  ruin;  but  the  same  patient  fortitude  and 
forbearance  marked  their  conduct.  What  would  the 
people  of  England  have  done  in  such  a  situation  ?  They 
would  have  resisted  the  government,  and  murdered 
the  tyrant.  But  in  this  country  no  abuse  of  power  has 
taken  place.  It  is  only  a  general  assertion,  unsupport 
ed,  which  suggests  the  contrary.  Individual  licen 
tiousness  will  show  its  baneful  consequences  in  every 
country,  let  its  government  be  what  it  may. 


138  PATRICK   HENRY. 

But  the  honorable  gentleman  says  responsibility 
will  exist  more  in  this  than  in  the  British  Govern 
ment.  It  exists  more  in  name  than  anything  else.  I 
need  not  speak  af  the  executive  authority.  But  con 
sider  the  two  houses — the  American  Parliament.  Are 
the  members  of  the  Senate  responsible?  They  may 
try  themselves,  and,  if  found  guilty  on  impeachment, 
are  to  be  only  removed  from  office.  In  England  the 
greatest  characters  are  brought  to  the  block  for  their 
sinister  administration.  They  have  a  power  there,  not 
to  dismiss  them  from  office,  but  from  life,  for  mal 
practices.  The  king  himself  cannot  pardon  in  this 
case.  How  does  it  stand  with  respect  to  your  lower 
house?  You  have  but  ten.  Whatever  number  may 
be  there,  six  is  a  majority.  Will  your  country  afford 
no  temptation,  no  money  to  corrupt  them?  Cannot 
six  fat  places  be  found  to  accommodate  them  ?  They 
may,  after  the  first  Congress,  take  any  place.  There 
will  be  a  multiplicity  of  places.  Suppose  they  cor 
ruptly  obtain  places.  Where  will  you  find  them  to 
punish  them?  At  the  furthest  part  of  the  Union;  in 
the  ten  miles  square,  or  within  a  State  where  there  is 
a  stronghold.  What  are  you  to  do  when  these  men 
return  from  Philadelphia?  Two  things  are  to  be 
done.  To  detect  the  offender  and  bring  him  to  pun 
ishment.  You  will  find  it  difficult  to  do  either. 

In  England,  the  proceedings  are  openly  transacted. 
They  deliver  their  opinions  freely  and  openly.  They 
do  not  fear  all  Europe.  Compare  it  to  this.  You 
cannot  detect  the  guilty.  The  publication  from  time 
to  time  is  merely  optional  in  them.  They  may  pro 
long  the  period,  or  suppress  it  altogether,  under  pre- 


PATRICK  HENRY.  139 

tence  of  its  being  necessary  to  be  kept  secret.  The 
yeas  and  nays  will  avail  nothing.  Is  the  publication 
daily  ?  It  may  be  a  year,  or  once  in  a  century.  I  know 
this  would  be  an  unfair  construction  in  the  common 
concerns  of  life.  But  it  would  satisfy  the  words  of  the 
Constitution.  It  would  be  some  security  were  it  once 
a  year,  or  even  once  in  two  years.  When  the  new  elec 
tion  comes  on,  unless  you  detect  them,  what  becomes  of 
your  responsibility?  Will  they  discover  their  guilt 
when  they  wish  to  be  re-elected?  This  would  sup 
pose  them  to  be,  not  only  bad  men,  but  foolish  men, 
in  pursuit  of  responsibility.  Have  you  a  right  to 
scrutinize  into  the  conduct  of  your  representatives? 
Can  any  man,  who  conceives  himself  injured,  go  and 
demand  a  sight  of  their  journals?  But  it  will  be  told 
that  I  am  suspicious.  I  am  answered,  to  every  ques 
tion,  that  they  will  be  good  men.  In  England,  they 
see  daily  what  is  doing  in  Parliament.  They  will  hear 
from  their  Parliament  in  one  thirty-ninth  part  of  the 
time  that  we  shall  hear  from  Congress  in  this  scat 
tered  country.  Let  it  be  proposed,  in  England,  to  lay 
a  poll  tax,  or  enter  into  any  measure,  that  will  injure 
one  part  and  produce  emoluments  to  another,  intelli 
gence  will  fly  quickly  as  the  rays  of  light  to  the  people. 
They  will  instruct  their  representatives  to  oppose  it, 
and  will  petition  against  it,  and  get  it  prevented  or 
redressed  instantly.  Impeachment  follows  quickly  a 
violation  of  duty.  Will  it  be  so  here  ?  You  must  de 
tect  the  offence,  and  punish  the  defaulter.  How  will 
this  be  done  when  you  know  not  the  offender,  even 
though  he  had  a  previous  design  to  commit  the  mis 
demeanor?  Your  Parliament  will  consist  of  sixty- 


140  PATRICK   HENRY. 

five.  Your  share  will  be  ten  out  of  the  sixty-five. 
Will  they  not  take  shelter,  by  saying  they  were  in  the 
minority — that  the  men  from  New  Hampshire  and 
Kentucky  out- voted  them?  Thus  will  responsibility, 
that  great  pillar  of  a  free  government,  be  taken  away. 

The  honorable  gentleman  wished  to  try  the  experi 
ment.  Loving  his  country  as  he  does,  he  would  not 
surely  wish  to  trust  his  happiness  to  an  experiment, 
from  which  much  harm,  but  no  good,  may  result. 

I  will  speak  another  time,  and  will  not  fatigue  the 
committee  now.  I  think  the  friends  of  the  opposition 
ought  to  make  a  pause  here;  for  I  can  see  no  safety 
to  my  country,  if  you  give  up  this  power. 

THE  BILL  OF  RIGHTS. 

DELIVERED   IN   THE   VIRGINIA    CONVENTION  OTST  THE 
ADOPTION  OF  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITU 
TION,   JUNE    14,    1788. 

Mr.  Chairman : 

THE  necessity  of  a  Bill  of  Rights  appears  to  me  to 
be  greater  in  this  government  than  ever  it  was  in  any 
government  before.  I  have  observed  already  that  the 
sense  of  the  European  nations,  and  particularly  Great 
Britain,  is  against  the  construction  of  rights  being  re 
tained  which  are  not  expressly  relinquished.  I  repeat 
that  all  nations  have  adopted  this  construction— that 
all  rights  not  expressly  and  unequivocally  reserved  to 
the  people  are  impliedly  and  incidentally  relinquished 
to  rulers,  as  necessarily  inseparable  from  the  delegat- 
;ed  powers.  It  is  so  in  Great  Britain;  for  every  pos- 


PATRICK   HENRY.  14! 

sible  right,  which  is  not  reserved  to  the  people  by  some 
express  provision  or  compact,  is  within  the  king's  pre 
rogative.  It  is  so  in  that  country  which  is  said  to  be  in 
such  full  possession  of  freedom.  It  is  so  in  Spain,  Ger 
many,  and  other  parts  of  the  world.  Let  us  consider 
the  sentiments  which  have  been  entertained  by  the 
people  of  America  on  this  subject.  At  the  Revolu 
tion,  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  was  their  sense  to  set 
down  those  great  rights  which  ought,  in  all  countries, 
to  be  held  inviolable  and  sacred.  Virginia  did  so,  we 
all  remember.  She  made  a  compact  to  reserve,  ex 
pressly,  certain  rights. 

When  fortified  with  full,  adequate,  and  abundant 
representation,  was  she  satisfied  with  that  represen 
tation?  No.  She  most  cautiously  and  guardedly  re 
served  and  secured  those  invaluable,  inestimable 
rights  and  privileges  which  no  people  inspired  with 
the  least  glow  of  patriotic  liberty  ever  did,  or  ever  can, 
abandon.  She  is  called  upon  now  to  abandon  them  and 
dissolve  that  compact  which  secured  them  to  her.  She, 
is  called  upon  to  accede  to  another  compact  which  most 
infallibly  supersedes  and  annihilates  her  present  one. 
Will  she  do  it?  This  is  the  question.  If  you  intend 
to  reserve  your  inalienable  rights,  you  must  have  the 
most  express  stipulation;  for  if  implication  be  allow 
ed,  you  are  ousted  of  those  rights.  If  the  people  do 
not  think  it  necessary  to  reserve  them,  they  will  be 
supposed  to  be  given  up.  How  were  the  congression 
al  rights  defined  when  the  people  of  America  united 
by  a  confederacy  to  defend  their  liberties  and  rights 
against  the  tyrannical  attempts  of  Great  Britain?  The 
States  were  not  then  contented  with  implied  reserva- 


142  PATRICK   HENRY. 

tion.  No,  Mr.  Chairman.  It  was  expressly  declared 
in  our  Confederation  that  every  right  was  retained 
by  the  States,  respectively,  which  was  not  given  up 
to  the  government  of  the  United  States.  But  there 
is  no  such  thing  here.  You,  therefore,  by  a  natural 
and  unavoidable  implication,  give  up  your  rights  to 
the  general  government. 

Your  own  example  furnishes  an  argument  against 
it.  If  you  give  up  these  powers,  without  a  Bill  of 
Rights,  you  will  exhibit  the  most  absurd  thing  to  man 
kind  that  ever  the  world  saw — a  government  that  has 
abandoned  all  its  powers — the  powers  of  direct  taxa 
tion,  the  sword,  and  the  purse.  You  have  disposed  of 
them  to  Congress,  without  a  Bill  of  Rights — without 
check,  limitation,  or  control.  And  still  you  have 
checks  and  guards;  still  you  keep  barriers — point 
ed  where?  Pointed  against  your  weakened,  pros 
trated,  enervated  State  government !  You  have  a  Bill 
of  Rights  to  defend  you  against  the  State  government, 
which  is  bereaved  of  all  power,  and  yet  you  have  none 
against  Congress,  though  in  full  and  exclusive  posses 
sion  of  all  power!  You  arm  yourselves  against  the 
weak  and  defenceless,  and  expose  yourselves  naked 
to  the  armed  and  powerful.  Is  not  this  conduct  of  un 
exampled  absurdity?  What  barriers  have  you  to  op 
pose  to  this  most  strong,  energetic  government.  To 
that  government  who  have  nothing  to  oppose.  All 
your  defence  is  given  up.  This  is  a  real, 
actual  defect.  It  must  strike  the  mind  of  every  gentle 
man.  When  our  government  was  first  instituted  in 
Virginia,  we  declared  the  common  law  of  England  to 
be  in  force. 


PATRICK   HENRY.  143 

That  system  of  law  which  has  been  admired  and  has 
protected  us  and  our  ancestors  is  excluded  by  that  sys 
tem.  Added  to  this,  we  adopted  a  Bill  of  Rights.  By 
this  Constitution  some  of  the  best  barriers  of  human 
rights  are  thrown  away.  Is  there  not  an  additional 
reason  to  have  a  Bill  of  Rights  ?  By  the  ancient  com 
mon  law  the  trial  of  all  facts  is  decided  by  a  jury  of 
impartial  men  from  the  immediate  vicinage.  This 
paper  speaks  of  different  juries  from  the  common  law 
in  criminal  cases;  and  in  civil  controversies  excludes 
trial  by  jury  altogether.  There  is,  therefore,  more  oc 
casion  for  the  supplementary  check  of  a  Bill  of  Rights 
now  than  then.  Congress,  from  their  general  powers, 
may  fully  go  into  the  business  of  human  legislation. 
They  may  be  legislative  in  criminal  cases,  from  trea 
son  to  the  lowest  offence — petty  larceny.  They  may, 
define  crimes  and  prescribe  punishments.  In  the  defi 
nition  of  crimes,  I  trust  they  will  be  directed  by  what 
wise  representatives  ought  to  be  governed  by.  But 
when  we  come  to  punishments,  no  latitude  ought  to  be 
left,  nor  dependence  put  on  the  virtue  of  representa 
tives.  What  says  our  Bill  of  Rights  ? — "  that  exces 
sive  bail  ought  not  to  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines 
imposed,  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflict 
ed."  Are  you  not,  therefore,  now  calling  on  those  gen 
tlemen  who  are  to  compose  Congress  to  prescribe  trials 
and  define  punishments  without  this  control?  Will 
they  find  sentiments  there  similar  to  this  Bill  of 
Rights?  You  let  them  loose;  you  do  more — you  de 
part  from  the  genius  of  your  country.  That  paper 
tells  you  that  the  trial  of  crimes  shall  be  by  jury,  and 
held  in  the  State  where  the  crime  shall  have  been 


144  PATRICK   HENRY. 

committed.  Under  this  extensive  provision,  they  may 
proceed  in  a  manner  extremely  dangerous  to  liberty; 
a  person  accused  may  be  carried  from  one  extremity 
of  the  State  to  another,  and  may  be  tried  not  by  an 
impartial  jury  of  the  vicinage,  acquainted  with  his 
character  and  the  circumstances  of  the  fact,  but  by  a 
jury  unacquainted  with  both,  and  who  may  be  biased 
against  him.  Is  not  this  sufficient  to  alarm  men? 
How  different  is  this  from  the  immemorial  practice 
of  your  British  ancestors  and  your  own !  I  need  not 
tell  you  that,  by  the  common  law,  a  number  of  hun- 
dreders  were  required  on  a  jury,  and  that  afterward 
it  was  sufficient  if  the  jurors  came  from  the  same 
county.  With  less  than  this  the  people  of  England 
have  never  been  satisfied.  That  paper  ought  to  have 
declared  the  common  law  in  force. 

In  this  business  of  legislation,  your  members  of 
Congress  will  lose  the  restrictions  of  not  imposing 
excessive  fines,  demanding  excessive  bail,  and  inflict 
ing  cruel  and  unusual  punishments.  These  are  pro 
hibited  by  your  Declaration  of  Rights.  What  has  dis 
tinguished  our  ancestors?  That  they  would  not  ad 
mit  of  tortures,  or  cruel  or  barbarous  punishment. 
But  Congress  may  introduce  the  practice  of  the  civil 
law,  in  preference  to  that  of  the  common  law.  They 
may  introduce  the  practice  of  France,  Spain  and  Ger 
many — of  torturing  to  extort  a  confession  of  crime. 
They  will  say  that  they  might  as  well  draw  examples 
from  those  countries  as  from  Great  Britain,  and  they 
will  tell  you  that  there  is  such  a  necessity  of  strength 
ening  the  arm  of  government  that  they  must  have  a 
criminal  equity,  and  extort  confession  by  torture,  in 


PATRICK   HENRY.  145 

order  to  punish  with  still  more  relentless  severity. 
We  are  then  lost  and  undone.  And  can  any  man 
think  it  troublesome,  when  we  can,  by  a  small  inter 
ference,  prevent  our  rights  from  being  lost?  If  you 
will,  like  the  Virginia  government,  give  them  knowl 
edge  of  the  extent  of  the  rights  retained  by  the  peo 
ple,  and  the  powers  of  themselves,  they  will,  if  they 
be  honest  men,  thank  you  for  it.  Will  they  not  wish 
to  go  on  sure  grounds?  But  if  you  leave  them  other 
wise,  they  will  not  know  how  to  proceed;  and,  being 
in  a  state  of  uncertainty,  they  will  assume  rather  than 
give  up  powers  of  implication. 

A  Bill  of  Rights  may  be  summed  up  in  a  few  words. 
What  do  they  tell  us  ?  That  our  rights  are  reserved. 
Why  not  say  so?  Is  it  because  it  will  consume  too 
much  papier?  Gentlemen's  reasoning  against  a  Bill 
of  Rights  does  not  satisfy  me.  Without  saying  which 
has  the  right  side,  it  remains  doubtful.  A  Bill  of 
Rights  is  a  favorite  thing  with  the  Virginians  and  the 
people  of  the  other  States  likewise.  It  may  be 
their  prejudice,  but  the  government  ought  to  suit  their 
geniuses ;  otherwise  its  operation  will  be  unhappy.  A 
Bill  of  Rights,  even  if  its  necessity  be  doubtful,  will 
exclude  the  possibility  of  dispute ;  and,  with  great  sub 
mission,  I  think  the  best  way  is  to  have  no  dispute. 
In  the  present  Constitution  they  are  restrained  from 
issuing  general  warrants  to  search  suspected  places, 
or  seize  persons  not  named,  without  evidence  of  the 
commission  of  a  fact,  etc.  There  was  certainly  some 
celestial  influence  governing  those  who  deliberated 
on  that  Constitution;  for  they  have,  with  the  most 
cautious  and  enlightened  circumspection,  guarded 


146  PATRICK   HENRY. 

those  indefeasible  rights  which  ought  ever  to  be  held 
sacred!  The  officers  of  Congress  may  come  upon 
you  now,  fortified  with  all  the  terrors  of  paramount 
federal  authority.  Excisemen  may  come  in  multi 
tudes;  for  the  limitation  of  their  numbers  no  man 
knows.  They  may,  unless  the  general  government 
be  restrained  by  a  Bill  of  Rights,  or  some  similar  re 
striction,  go  into  your  cellars  and  rooms,  and  search, 
ransack,  and  measure,  everything  you  eat,  drink,  and 
wear.  They  ought  to  be  restrained  within  proper 
bounds.  With  respect  to  the  freedom  of  the  press, 
I  need  say  nothing;  for  it  is  hoped  that  the  gentle 
men  who  shall  compose  Congress  will  take  care  to 
infringe  as  little  as  possible  the  rights  of  human  na 
ture.  This  will  result  from  their  integrity.  They 
should,  from  prudence,  abstain  from  violating  the 
rights  of  their  constituents.  They  are  not,  however, 
expressly  restrained.  But  whether  they  will  inter 
meddle  with  that  palladium  of  our  liberties  or  not,  I 
leave  you  to  determine. 


LIBERTY  OR  EMPIRE? 

PELIVERED    IN    THE    VIRGINIA    CONVENTION,    JUNE    5, 

1788. 

WHAT,  sir,  is  the  genius  of  democracy?  Let  me 
read  that  clause  of  the  Bill  of  Rights  of  Virginia 
which  relates  to  this  : 

"  CLAUSE  III. — That  government  is,  or  ought  to 
be,  instituted  for  the  common  benefit,  protection  and 


PATRICK   HENRY.  147 

security  of  the  people,  nation,  or  community.  Of 
all  the  various  modes  and  forms  of  government,  that 
is  best  which  is  capable  of  producing  the  greatest  de 
gree  of  happiness  and  safety,  and  is  most  effectually 
secured  against  the  danger  of  maladministration;  and 
that  whenever  any  government  shall  be  found  inade 
quate  or  contrary  to  those  purposes,  a  majority  of  the 
community  hath  an  indubitable,  unalienable,  and  in 
defeasible  right  to  reform,  alter,  or  abolish  it,  in  such 
manner  as  shall  be  judged  most  conducive  to  the  pub 
lic  weal." 

This,  sir,  is  the  language  of  democracy — that  a  ma- 
jority  of  the  community  have  a  right  to  alter  gov 
ernment  when  found  to  be  oppressive.  But  how 
different  is  the  genius  of  your  new  Constitution  from 
this!  How  different  from  the  sentiments  of  free 
men,  that  a  contemptible  minority  can  prevent  the 
good  of  the  majority !  If,  then,  gentlemen  standing 
on  this  ground  are  come  to  that  point,  that  they  are 
willing  to  bind  themselves  and  their  posterity  to  be 
oppressed,  I  am  amazed  and  inexpressibly  astonished. 
If  this  be  the  opinion  of  the  majority,  I  must  submit ; 
but  to  me,  sir,  it  appears  perilous  and  destructive.  I 
cannot  help  thinking  so.  Perhaps  it  may  be  the  re 
sult  of  my  age.  These  may  be  feelings  natural  to  a 
man  of  my  years,  when  the  American  spirit  has  left 
him,  and  his  mental  powers,  like  the  members  of  the 
body,  are  decayed.  If,  sir,  amendments  are  left  to 
the  twentieth,  or  tenth  part  of  the  people  of  America, 
your  liberty  is  gone  forever.  We  have  heard  that 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  bribery  practiced  in  the  House 


148  PATRICK   HENRY. 

of  Commons  in  England,  and  that  many  of  the  mem 
bers  raise  themselves  to  preferments  by  selling  the 
rights  of  the  whole  of  the  people.  But,  sir,  the  tenth 
part  of  that  body  cannot  continue  oppressions  on  the 
rest  of  the  people.  English  liberty  is,  in  this  case,  on  a 
firmer  foundation  than  American  liberty.  It  will  be 
easily  contrived  to  procure  the  opposition  of  one- 
tenth  of  the  people  to  any  alteration,  however  judi 
cious.  The  honorable  gentleman  who  presides  told 
us  to  prevent  abuses  in  our  government,  we  will 
assemble  in  convention,  recall  our  delegated  powers,, 
and  punish  our  servants  for  abusing  the  trust  im 
posed  in  them.  Oh,  sir!  we  should  have  fine  times, 
indeed,  if,  to  punish  tyrants,  it  were  only  sufficient 
to  assemble  the  people!  Your  arms,  wherewith  you 
could  defend  yourselves,  are  gone;  and  you  have  no 
longer  an  aristocratical,  no  longer  a  democratical 
spirit.  Did  you  ever  read  of  any  revolution  in  a  na 
tion,  brought  about  by  the  punishment  of  those  in 
power,  inflicted  by  those  who  had  no  power  at  all? 
You  read  of  a  riot  act  in  a  country  which  is  called  one 
of  the  freest  in  the  world,  where  a  few  neighbors  can 
not  assemble  without  the  risk  of  being  shot  by  a 
hired  soldiery,  the  engines  of  despotism.  We  may 
see  such  an  act  in  America. 

A  standing  army  we  shall  have,  also,  to  execute 
the  execrable  commands  of  tyranny ;  and  how  are  you 
to  punish  them  ?  Will  you  order  them  to  be  punished  ? 
Who  shall  obey  these  orders  ?  Will  your  mace- 
bearer  be  a  match  for  a  disciplined  regiment.  In 
what  situation  are  we  to  be  ?  The  clause  before  your 
gives  a  power  of  direct  taxation,  unbounded  and  un- 


PATRICK   HENRY.  149 

limited — an  exclusive  power  of  legislation,  in  all  cases 
whatsoever,  for  ten  miles  square,  and  over  all  places 
purchased  for  the  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arse 
nals,  dockyards,  etc.  What  resistance  could  be  made  ? 
The  attempt  would  be  madness.  You  will  find  all 
the  strength  of  this  country  in  the  hands  of  your  ene 
mies;  their  garrisons  \vill  naturally  be  the  strongest 
places  in  the  country.  Your  militia  is  given  up  to 
Congress,  also,  in  another  part  of  this  plan ;  they  will 
therefore  act  as  they  think  proper:  all  power  will  be 
in  their  own  possession.  You  cannot  force  them  to  re 
ceive  their  punishment :  of  what  service  would  mili 
tia  be  to  you,  when,  most  probably,  you  will  not  have 
-a  single  musket  in  the  State  ?  For,  as  arms  are  to  be 
provided  by  Congress,  they  may  or  may  not  furnish 
them. 

Let  me  here  call  your  attention  to  that  part  which 
gives  the  Congress  the  power  "  to  provide  for  organ 
izing,  arming  and  disciplining  the  militia,  and  for  gov 
erning  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States;  reserving  to  the  States, 
respectively,  the  appointment  of  the  officers,  and  the 
authority  of  training  the  militia  according  to  the  dis 
cipline  prescribed  by  Congress."  By  this,  sir,  you  see 
that  their  control  over  our  last  and  best  defence  is  un 
limited.  If  they  neglect  or  refuse  to  discipline  or  arm 
our  militia,  they  will  be  useless;  the  States  can  do 
neither,  this  power  being  exclusively  given  to  Con 
gress.  The  power  of  appointing  officers  over  men  not 
disciplined  or  armed  is  ridiculous;  so  that  this  pre 
tended  little  remains  of  power  left  to  the  States  may, 
at  the  pleasure  of  Congress,  be  rendered  nugatory. 


ISO  PATRICK   HENRY. 

Our  situation  will  be  deplorable  indeed:  nor  can  we 
ever  expect  to  get  this  government  amended,  since  I 
have  already  shown  that  a  very  small  minority  may 
prevent  it,  and  that  a  small  minority  interest 
ed  in  the  continuance  of  the  oppression.  Will 
the  oppressor  let  go  the  oppressed?  Was  there 
ever  an  instance?  Can  the  annals  of  man 
kind  exhibit  one  single  example  where  rulers  over 
charged  with  power  willingly  let  go  the  oppressed, 
though  solicited  and  requested  most  earnestly?  The 
application  for  amendments  will  therefore  be  fruit 
less.  Sometimes  the  oppressed  have  got  loose  by  one 
of  those  bloody  struggles  that  desolate  a  country; 
but  a  willing  relinquishment  of  power  is  one  of  those 
things  which  human  nature  never  was,  nor  ever  will 
be  capable  of. 

The  honorable  gentleman's  observations  respecting 
the  people's  right  of  being  the  agents  in  the  formation 
of  this  government  are  not  accurate,  in  my  humble 
conception.  The  distinction  between  a  national  gov 
ernment  and  a  confederacy  is  not  sufficiently  dis 
cerned.  Had  the  delegates  who  were  sent  to  Phila 
delphia  a  power  to  propose  a  consolidated  government 
instead  of  a  confederacy  ?  W7ere  they  not  deputed  by 
States,  and  not  by  the  people?  The  assent  of  the  peo 
ple,  in  their  collective  capacity,  is  not  necessary  to  the 
formation  of  a  federal  government.  The  people  have 
no  right  to  enter  into  leagues,  alliances,  or  confedera 
tions  ;  they  are  not  the  proper  agents  for  this  purpose. 
States  and  foreign  powers  are  the  only  proper  agents 
for  this  kind  of  government.  Show  me  an  instance 
where  the  people  have  exercised  this  business.  Has 


PATRICK   HENRY. 

it  not  always  gone  through  the  Legislatures?  I  refer 
you  to  the  treaties  with  France,  Holland,  and  other 
nations.  How  were  they  made?  Were  they  not 
made  by  the  States?  Are  the  people,  therefore,  in 
their  aggregate  capacity,  the  proper  persons  to  form 
a  confederacy?  This,  therefore,  ought  to  depend 
on  the  consent  of  the  Legislatures,  the  people  having 
sent  delegates  to  make  any  proposition  for  changing 
the  government.  Yet  I  must  say,  at  the  same  time, 
that  it  was  made  on  grounds  the  most  pure ;  and,  per 
haps,  I  might  have  been  brought  to  consent  to  it  as 
far  as  to  the  change  of  government.  But  there  is 
one  thing  in  it  which  I  never  would  acquiesce  in. 
I  mean  the  changing  it  into  a  consolidated  govern 
ment,  which  is  so  abhorrent-  to  my  mind. 

The  honorable  gentleman  then  went  on  to  the 
figure  we  make  with  foreign  nations;  the  contempti 
ble  one  we  make  in  France  and  Holland,  which,  ac 
cording  to  the  substance  of  the  notes,  he  attributes 
to  the  present  feeble  government.  An  opinion 
has  gone  forth,  we  find,  that  we  are  contempti 
ble  people ;  the  time  has  been  when  we  were  thought 
otherwise.  Under  the  same  despised  government  we 
commanded  the  respect  of  all  Europe;  wherefore 
are  we  now  reckoned  otherwise?  The  American 
spirit  has  fled  from  hence;  it  has  gone  to  regions 
where  it  has  never  been  expected;  it  has  gone 
to  the  people  of  France  in  search  of  a  splendid  gov 
ernment,  a  strong,  energetic  government.  Shall  we 
imitate  the  example  of  those  nations  who  have  gone 
from  a  simple  to  a  splendid  government?  Are  those 
nations  more  worthy  of  our  imitation?  What  can 


152  PATRICK  HENRY. 

make  an  adequate  satisfaction  to  them  for  the  loss 
they  have  suffered  in  attaining  such  a  government — 
for  the  loss  of  their  liberty?  If  we  admit  this  con 
solidated  government,  it  will  be  because  we  like  a 
great,  splendid  one.  Some  way  or  other  we  must  be 
a  great  and  mighty  empire;  we  must  have  an  army, 
and  a  navy,  and  a  number  of  things.  When  the 
American  spirit  was  in  its  youth,  the  language  of 
America  was  different;  liberty,  sir,  was  then  the  pri 
mary  object.  We  are  descended  from  a  people  whose 
government  was  founded  on  liberty;  our  glorious 
forefathers  of  Great  Britain  made  liberty  the  foun 
dation  of  everything.  That  country  is  become  a 
great,  mighty,  and  splendid  nation;  not  because  their 
government  is  strong  and  energetic,  but,  sir,  because 
liberty  is  its  direct  end  and  foundation.  We  drew 
the  spirit  of  liberty  from  our  British  ancestors;  by 
that  spirit  we  have  triumphed  over  every  difficulty. 
But  now,  sir,  the  American  spirit,  assisted  by  the  ropes 
and  chains  of  consolidation,  is  about  to  convert  this 
country  into  a  powerful  and  mighty  empire.  If  you 
make  the  citizens  of  this  country  agree  to  become  the 
subjects  of  one  great  consolidated  empire  of  America, 
your  government  will  not  have  sufficient  energy  to 
keep  them  together.  Such  a  government  is  incom 
patible  with  the  genius  of  republicanism.  There  will , 
be  no  checks,  no  real  balances  in  this  government. 
What  can  avail  your  specious,  imaginary  balances, 
your  rope-dancing,  chain-rattling,  ridiculous  ideal 
checks  and  contrivances  ?  But,  sir,  "  we  are  not 
feared  by  foreigners;  we  do  not  make  nations  trem 
ble."  Would  this  constitute  happiness  or  secure  lib- 


PATRICK   HENRY.  153 

erty?  I  trust,  sir,  our  political  hemisphere  will  ever 
direct  their  operations  to  the  security  of  those  objects. 
Consider  our  situation,  sir;  go  to  the  poor  man  and 
ask  him  what  he  does.  He  will  inform  you  that  he 
enjoys  the  fruits  of  his  labor,  under  his  own  fig  tree, 
with  his  wife  and  children  around  him,  in  peace  and 
security.  Go  to  every  other  member  of  society;  you 
will  find  the  same  tranquil  ease  and  content;  you  will 
find  no  alarms  or  disturbances.  Why,  then,  tell  us 
of  danger,  to  terrify  us  into  an  adoption  of  this  new 
form  of  government?  And  yet  who  knows  the  dan 
gers  that  this  new  system  may  produce  ?  They  are  out 
of  the  sight  of  the  common  people ;  they  cannot  fore 
see  latent  consequences.  I  dread  the  operation  of  it 
on  the  middling  and  lower  classes  of  people;  it  is 
for  them  I  fear  the  adoption  of  this  system.  I  fear 
I  tire  the  patience  of  the  committee,  but  I  beg  to  be 
indulged  with  a  few  more  observations.  When  I  thus 
confess  myself  an  advocate  for  the  liberty  of  the  peo 
ple,  I  shall  be  told  I  am  a  designing  man,  that  I  am 
to  be  a  great  man,  that  I  am  to  be  a  demagogue ;  and 
many  similar  illiberal  insinuations  will  be  thrown  out : 
but,  sir,  conscious  rectitude  outweighs  those  things 
with  me.  I  see  great  jeopardy  in  this  new  government. 
1  see  none  from  our  present  one.  I  hope  some  gen 
tleman  or  other  will  bring  forth,  in  full  array,  those 
dangers,  if  there  be  any,  that  we  may  see  and  touch 
them.  I  have  said  that  I  thought  this  a  consolidated 
government;  I  will  now  prove  it.  Will  the  great 
rights  of  the  people  be  secured  by  this  government? 
Suppose  it  should  prove  oppressive,  how  can  it  be 
altered?  Our  Bill  of  Rights  declares  that  "a  ma- 


154  PATRICK   HENRY. 

jority  of  the  community  hath  an  indubitable,  un- 
alienable  and  indefeazible  right  to  reform,  alter, 
or  abolish  it,  in  such  manner  as  shall  be  judged  most 
conducive  to  the  public  weal." 

I  have  just  proved  that  one-tenth,  or  less,  of  the 
people  of  America — a — most  despicable  minority — 
may  prevent  this  reform  or  alteration.  Suppose  the 
people  of  Virginia  should  wish  to  alter  their  govern 
ment;  can  a  majority  of  them  do  it?  No;  because 
they  are  connected  with  other  men,  or,  in  other  words, 
consolidated  with  other  States.  When  the  people  of 
Virginia,  at  a  future  day,  shall  wish  to  alter  their  gov 
ernment,  though  they  should  be  unanimous  in  this 
desire,  yet  they  may  be  prevented  therefrom  by  a 
despicable  minority  at  the  extremity  of  the  United 
States.  The  founders  of  your  own  Constitution  made 
your  government  changeable ;  but  the  power  of  chang 
ing  it  is  gone  from  you.  Whither  is  it  gone?  It  is 
placed  in  the  same  hands  that  hold  the  rights  of  twelve 
other  States,  and  those  who  hold  those  rights  have 
right  and  power  to  keep  them.  It  is  not  the  particu 
lar  government  of  Virginia;  one  of  the  leading  fea 
tures  of  that  government  is  that  a  majority  can  alter 
it  when  necessary  for  the  public  good.  This  gov 
ernment  is  not  a  Virginian,  but  an  American  govern 
ment.  Is  it  not,  therefore,  a  consolidated  govern 
ment?  The  sixth  clause  of  your  Bill  of  Rights  tells 
you  "  that  elections  of  members  to  serve  as  represen 
tatives  of  the  people  in  assembly  ought  to  be  free, 
and  that  all  men  having  sufficient  evidence  of  perma 
nent  common  interest  with  and  attachment  to  the  com 
munity,  have  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  cannot  be 


PATRICK  HENRY.  1 55 

taxed,  or  deprived  of  their  property  for  public  uses, 
without  their  own  consent,  or  that  of  their  represen-' 
tatives  so  elected,  nor  bound  by  any  law  to  which 
they  have  not  in  like  manner  assented  for  the  public 
good."  But  what  does  this  Constitution  say?  The 
clause  under  consideration  gives  an  unlimited  and  un 
bounded  power  of  taxation.  Suppose  every  dele 
gate  from  Virginia  opposes  a  law  laying  a  tax;  what 
will  it  avail?  They  are  oppressed  by  a  majority; 
eleven  members  can  destroy  their  efforts :  those  fee 
ble  ten  cannot  prevent  the  passage  of  the  most  oppres 
sive  tax  law ;  so  that,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  spirit 
and  express  language  of  your  Declaration  of  Rights, 
you  are  taxed,  not  by  your  own  consent,  but  by  people 
who  have  no  connection  with  you. 

The  next  clause  of  the  Bill  of  Rights  tells  you 
"  that  all  power  of  suspending  law,  or  the  execution 
of  laws,  by  any  authority,  without  the  consent  of  the 
representatives  of  the  people,  is  injurious  to  their 
rights,  and  ought  not  to  be  exercised."  This  tells 
us  that  there  can  be  no  suspension  of  government  or 
laws  without  our  own  consent;  yet  this  Constitution 
can  counteract  and  suspend  any  of  our  laws  that  con 
travene  its  oppressive  operation;  for  they  have  the 
power  of  direct  taxation,  which  suspends  our  Bill  of 
Rights;  and  it  is  expressly  provided  that  they  can 
make  all  laws  necessary  for  carrying  their  powers 
into  execution;  and  it  is  declared  paramount  to  the 
laws  and  constitutions  of  the  States.  Consider  how 
the  only  remaining  defence  we  have  left  is  destroyed 
in  this  manner.  Besides  the  expenses  of  maintain 
ing  the  Senate  and  other  House  in  as  much  splendor 


156  PATRICK   HENRY. 

as  they  please,  there  is  to  be  a  great  and  mighty  Presi 
dent,  with  very  extensive  powers — the  powers  of  a 
king.  He  is  to  be  supported  in  extravagant  magnifi 
cence  ;  so  that  the  whole  of  our  property  may  be  taken 
by  this  American  Government,  by  laying  what  taxes 
they  please,  giving  themselves  what  salaries  they 
please,  and  suspending  our  laws  at  their  pleasure.  I 
might  be  thought  too  inquisitive,  but  I  believe  I  should 
take  up  very  little  of  your  time  in  enumerating  the  lit 
tle  power  that  is  left  to  the  government  of  Virginia,  for 
this  power  is  reduced  to  little  or  nothing;  their  gar 
risons,  magazines,  arsenals,  and  forts,  which  will  be 
situated  in  the  strongest  places  within  the  States; 
their  ten-mile  square,  with  all  the  fine  ornaments  of 
human  life,  added  to  their  powers,  and  taken  from  the 
States,  will  reduce  the  power  of  the  latter  to  nothing. 
The  voice  of  tradition,  I  trust,  will  inform  posterity 
of  our  struggles  for  freedom.  If  our  descendants  be 
worthy  the  name  of  Americans,  they  will  preserve, 
and  hand  down  to  their  'last  posterity,  the  transactions 
of  the  present  times;  and,  though  I  confess  my  ex 
clamations  are  not  worthy  the  hearing,  they  will  see 
that  I  have  done  my  utmost  to  preserve  their  liberty ; 
for  I  never  will  give  up  the  power  of  direct  taxation 
but  for  a  scourge.  I  am  willing  to  give  it  condition 
ally;  that  is,  after  non-compliance  with  requisitions. 
I  will  do  more,  sir,  and  what  I  hope  will  convince  the 
most  sceptical  man  that  I  am  a  lover  of  the  American 
Union;  that,  in  case  Virginia  shall  not  make  punctual 
payment,  the  control  of  our  custom  houses,  and  the 
whole  regulation  of  trade,  shall  be  given  to  Congress, 
and  that  Virginia  shal]  depend  on  Congress  even  for 


PATRICK   HENRY.  157 

passports,  till  Virginia  shall  have  paid  the  last  farth 
ing,  and  furnished  the  last  soldier.  Nay,  sir,  there 
is  another  alternative  to  which  I  would  consent;  even 
that  they  should  strike  us  out  of  the  Union  and  take 
away  from  us  all  federal  privileges,  till  we  comply 
with  federal  requisitions:  but  let  it  depend  upon  our 
own  pleasure  to  pay  our  money  in  the  most  easy  man 
ner  for  our  people.  Were  all  the  States,  more  terri 
ble  than  the  mother  country,  to  join  against  us,  I 
hope  Virginia  could  defend  herself;  but,  sir,  the 
dissolution  of  the  Union  is  most  abhorrent  to  my 
mind.  The  first  thing  I  have  at  heart  is  American 
liberty;  the  second  thing  is  American  union;  and  I 
hope  the  people  of  Virginia  will  endeavor  to  preserve 
that  union.  The  increasing  population  of  the  South 
ern  States  is  far  greater  than  that  of  New  England; 
consequently,  in  a  short  time,  they  will  be  far  more 
numerous  than  the  people  of  that  country.  Consider 
this,  and  you  will  find  this  State  more  particularly  in 
terested  to  support  American  liberty  and  not  bind 
our  posterity  by  an  improvident  relinquishment  of 
our  rights.  I  would  give  the  best  security  for  a  punc 
tual  compliance  with  requisitions;  but  I  beseech  gen 
tlemen,  at  all  hazards,  not  to  give  up  this  unlimited 
power  of  taxation.  The  honorable  gentleman  has 
told  us  that  these  powers,  given  to  Congress,  are  ac 
companied  by  a  judiciary  which  will  correct  all.  On 
examination,  you  will  find  this  very  judiciary  op 
pressively  constructed,  your  jury  trial  destroyed,  and 
the  judges  dependent  on  Congress.  .  . 

This  Constitution  is  said  to  have  beautiful  features; 
but  when  I  come  to  examine  these  features,  sir,  they 


158  PATRICK   HENRY. 

appear  to  me  horribly  frightful.  Among  other  de 
formities,  it  has  an  awful  squinting ;  it  squints  toward 
monarchy;  and  does  not  this  raise  indignation  in  the 
breast  of  every  true  American?  Your  President 
may  easily  become  king.  Your  Senate  is  so  imper 
fectly  constructed  that  your  dearest  rights  may  be 
sacrificed  by  what  may  be  a  small  minority;  and  a 
very  small  minority  may  continue  forever  unchange 
ably  this  government,  although  horribly  defective. 
Where  are  your  checks  in  this  government?  Your 
strongholds  will  be  in  the  hands  of  your  enemies.  It 
is  on  a  supposition  that  your  American  governors 
shall  be  honest,  that  all  the  good  qualities  of  this 
government  are  founded ;  but  its  defective  and  imper 
fect  construction  puts  it  in  their  power  to  perpetrate 
the  worst  of  mischiefs,  should  they  be  bad  men;  and, 
sir,  would  not  all  the  world,  from  the  Eastern  to  the 
Western  Hemisphere,  blame  our  distracted  folly  in 
resting  our  rights  upon  the  contingency  of  our  rulers 
being  good  or  bad?  Show  me  that  age  and  country 
where  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people  were 
placed  on  the  sole  chance  of  their  rulers  being  good 
men,  without  a  consequent  loss  of  liberty!  I  say 
that  the  loss  of  that  dearest  privilege  has  ever  fol 
lowed,  with  absolute  certainty,  every  such  mad  at 
tempt. 

If  your  American  chief  be  a  man  of  ambition  and 
abilities,  how  easy  is  it  for  him  to  render  himself  ab 
solute  !  The  army  is  in  his  hands,  and  if  he  be  a  man 
of  address,  it  will  be  attached  to  him,  and  it  will  be 
the  subject  of  long  meditation  with  him  to  seize  the 
first  auspicious  moment  to  accomplish  his  design ;  and, 


PATRICK   HENRY.  1 59 

sir,  will  the  American  spirit  solely  relieve  you  when 
this  happens?  I  would  rather  infinitely — and  I  am 
sure  most  of  this  Convention  are  of  the  same  opinion 
— have  a  king,  lords,  and  commons,  than  a  govern 
ment  so  replete  with  such  insupportable  evils.  If  we 
make  a  king,  we  may  prescribe  the  rules  by  which  he 
shall  rule  his  people,  and  interpose  such  checks  as 
shall  prevent  him  from  infringing  them;  but  the 
President,  in  the  field,  at  the  head  of  his  army,  can 
prescribe  the  terms  on  which  he  shall  reign  master, 
so  far  that  it  will  puzzle  any  American  ever  to  get 
his  neck  from  under  the  galling  yoke.  I  cannot  with 
patience  think  of  this  idea.  If  ever  he  violate  the 
laws,  one  of  two  things  will  happen;  he  will  come  at 
the  head  of  the  army  to  carry  everything  before  him ; 
or  he  will  give  bail,  or  do  what  Mr.  Chief- Justice  will 
order  him.  If  he  be  guilty,  will  not  the  recollection 
of  his  crimes  teach  him  to  make  one  bold  push  for  the 
American  throne?  Will  not  the  immense  difference 
between  being  master  of  everything  and  being  ig- 
nominiously  tried  and  punished  powerfully  excite  him 
to  make  this  bold  push  ?  But,  sir,  where  is  the  existing 
force  to  punish  him?  Can  he  not,  at  the  head  of  his 
army  beat  down  every  opposition?  Away  with  your 
President !  we  shall  have  a  king :  the  army  will  salute 
him  monarch ;  your  militia  will  leave  you,  and  assist  in 
making  him  king,  and  fight  against  you :  and  what 
have  you  to  oppose  this  force  ?  What  will  then  be 
come  of  you  and  your  rights?  Will  not  absolute 
despotism  ensue? 


l6o  HANCOCK. 

Hancock,  John,  a  distinguished  American  patriot  and 
orator,  born  in  that  portion  of  Braintree,  Mass.,  now  known 
as  Quincy,  January  12,  1737  ;  died  there,  Octobers,  1793. 
He  inherited  a  large  fortune  and  rose  to  prominence  as  a 
merchant  in  Boston,  becoming  a  member  of  the  colonial  legis 
lature  in  1766.  The  skirmish  between  the  rabble  and  tb<* 
soldiers,  since  known  as  "  The  Boston  Massacre,"  occurred 
in  1770,  and  Hancock's  oration  at  the  funeral  of  the  vic 
tims  was  so  strongly  condemned  that  his  arrest  was  sought 
by  the  authorities.  Like  Samuel  Adams  he  was  exempted 
from  the  free  pardon  offered  to  rebels  in  1775.  In  that 
same  year  he  was  chosen  President  of  the  Continental  Con 
gress,  and  he  was  the  first  one  to  sign  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  He  was  the  first  governor  oe  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  aud  save  for  a  two-years  interval,  was  re-elec 
ted  annually  until  his  death. 


ORATION  ON  THE  BOSTON  MASSACRE. 
DELIVERED  MARCH  5,  1 774- 

MEN,  BRETHREN,  FATHERS,  AND  FELLOW  COUN 
TRYMEN, — The  attractive  gravity,  the  venerable  ap 
pearance  of  this  crowded  audience ;  the  dignity  which 
I  behold  in  the  countenances  of  so  many  in  this  great 
assembly ;  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion  upon  which  we 
have  met  together  joined  to  a  consideration  of  the  part 
I  fcm  to  take  in  the  important  business  of  this  day,  fill 
me  with  an  awe  hitherto  unknown,  and  heighten  the 
sense  which  I  have  ever  had,  of  my  unworthiness  to  fill 
this  sacred  desk.  But,  allured  by  the  call  of  some  of 
my  respected  fellow  citizens,  with  whose  request  it 
is  always  my  greatest  pleasure  to  comply,  I  almost 


HANCOCK.  l6l 

forgot  my  want  of  ability  to  perform  what  they  re 
quired. 

In  this  situation  I  find  my  only  support  in  assuring" 
myself  that  a  generous  people  will  not  severely  cen 
sure  what  they  know  was  well  intended,  though  its 
want  of  merit  should  prevent  their  being  able  to  ap 
plaud  it.  And  I  pray  that  my  sincere  attachment  to 
the  interest  of  my  country,  and  hearty  detestation  of 
every  design  formed  against  her  liberties,  may  be  ad 
mitted  as  some  apology  for  my  appearance  in  this 
place. 

I  have  always,  from  my  earliest  youth,  rejoiced  in 
the  felicity  of  my  fellow  men;  and  have  ever  con 
sidered  it  as  the  indispensable  duty  of  every  member 
of  society  to  promote,  as  far  as  in  him  lies,  the  pros 
perity  of  every  individual,  but  more  especially  of  the 
community  to  which  he  belongs ;  and  also,  as  a  faith 
ful  subject  of  the  state,  to  use  his  utmost  endeavors 
to  detect,  and  having  detected,  strenuously  to  oppose 
every  traitorous  plot  which  its  enemies  may  devise 
for  its  destruction.  Security  to  the  persons  and  prop 
erties  of  the  governed  is  so  obviously  the  design  and 
end  of  civil  government  that  to  attempt  a  logical 
proof  of  it  would  be  like  burning  tapers  at  noonday 
to  assist  the  sun  in  enlightening  the  world;  and  it 
cannot  be  either  virtuous  or  honorable  to  attempt  to 
support  a  government  of  which  this  is  not  the  great 
and  principal  basis ;  and  it  is  to  the  last  degree  vicious 
and  infamous  to  attempt  to  support  a  government 
which  manifestly  tends  to  render  the  persons  and 
properties  of  the  governed  insecure. 

Some  boast  of  being  friends  to  government;  I  am 


162  HANCOCK. 

a  friend  to  righteous  government,  to  a  government 
founded  upon  the  principles  of  reason  and  justice; 
but  I  glory  in  publicly  avowing  my  eternal  enmity 
to  tyranny.  Is  the  present  system,  which  the  British 
administration  have  adopted  for  the  government  of 
the  colonies,  a  righteous  government — or  is  it  ty 
ranny?  Here  suffer  me  to  ask  (and  would  to  heaven 
there  could  be  an  answer),  what  tenderness,  what 
regard,  respect  or  consideration  has  Great  Britain 
shown,  in  their  late  transactions,  for  the  security  of 
the  persons  or  properties  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  colo 
nies?  Or  rather  what  have  they  omitted  doing  to 
destroy  that  security. 

They  have  declared  that  they  have  ever  had,  and 
of  right  ought  ever  to  have,  full  power  to  make  laws 
of  sufficient  validity  to  bind  the  colonies  in  all  cases 
whatever.  They  have  exercised  this  pretended  right 
by  imposing  a  tax  upon  us  without  our  consent;  and 
lest  we  should  show  some  reluctance *at  parting  with 
our  property  her  fleets  and  armies  are  sent  to  enforce 
their  mad  pretensions. 

The  town  of  Boston,  ever  faithful  to  the  British 
crown,  has  been  invested  by  a  British  fleet,  the  troops 
of  George  III.  have  crossed  the  wide  Atlantic,  not  to 
engage  an  enemy,  but  to  assist  a  band  of  traitors  in 
trampling  on  the  rights  and  liberties  of  his  most  loyal 
subjects  in  America — those  rights  and  liberties  which, 
as  a  father,  he  ought  ever  to  regard,  and  as  a  king 
he  is  bound  in  honor  to  defend  from  violation,  even 
at  the  risk  of  his  own  life. 

Let  not  the  history  of  the  illustrious  house  of  Bruns 
wick  inform  posterity  that  a  king  descended  from  that 


HANCOCK.  163 

glorious  monarch,  George  II.,  once  sent  his  British 
subjects  to  conquer  and  enslave  his  subjects  in  Ameri 
ca.  But  be  perpetual  infamy  entailed  upon  that  vil 
lain  who  dared  to  advise  his  master  to  such  execrable 
measures ;  for  it  was  easy  to  foresee  the  consequences 
which  so  naturally  followed  upon  sending  troops  into 
America  to  enforce  obedience  to  acts  of  the  British 
Parliament  which  neither  God  nor  man  ever  empow 
ered  them  to  make.  It  was  reasonable  to  expect  that 
troops  who  knew  the  errand  they  were  sent  upon 
would  treat  the  people  whom  they  were  to  subjugate 
with  a  cruelty  and  haughtiness  which  too  often  buries 
the  honorable  character  of  a  soldier  in  the  disgraceful 
name  of  an  unfeeling  ruffian.  The  troops,  upon  their 
first  arrival,  took  possession  of  our  senate  house  and 
pointed  their  cannon  against  the  judgment  hall,  and 
even  continued  them  iheie  whilst  the  supreme  court 
of  judicature  for  this  province  was  actually  sitting 
to  decide  upon  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  the  king's 
subjects.  Our  streets  nightly  resounded  with  the 
noise  of  riot  and  debauchery;  our  peaceful  citizens 
were  hourly  exposed  to  shameful  insults,  and  often 
felt  the  effects  of  their  violence  and  outrage. 

But  this  was  not  all:  as  though  they  thought  it 
not  enough  to  violate  our  civil  rights  they  endeavored 
to  deprive  us  of  the  enjoyment  of  our  religious  privi 
leges;  to  vitiate  our  morals,  and  thereby  render  us 
deserving  of  destruction.  Hence  the  rude  din  of 
arms  which  broke  in  upon  your  solemn  devotions  in 
your  temples  on  that  day  hallowed  by  heaven  and 
set  apart  by  God  himself  for  his  peculiar  worship. 

Hence  impious  oaths  and  blasphemies  so  often  tor- 
6-1 


164  HANCOCK. 

/turecl  your  unaccustomed  ear.  Hence  all  the  arts 
which  idleness  and  luxury  could  invent  were  used 
to  betray  our  youth  of  one  sex  into  extravagance  and 
effeminacy,  and  of  the  other,  to  infamy  and  ruin ;  and 
did  they  not  succeed  but  too  well?  Did  not  a  rev 
erence  for  religion  sensibly  decay?  Did  not  our  in 
fants  almost  learn  to  lisp  out  curses  before  they  knew 
their  horrid  import?  Did  not  our  youth  forget  they 
were  Americans,  and  regardless  of  the  admonitions 
of  the  wise  and  aged  servilely  copy -from  their  ty 
rants  those  vices  which  finally  must  overthrow  the 
empire  of  Great  Britain?  And  must  I  be  compelled 
to  acknowledge  that  even  the  noblest,  fairest  part  of 
the  lower  creation  did  not  entirely  escape  the  cursed 
snare?  When  virtue  has  once  erected  her  throne 
within  the  female  breast  it  is  upon  so  solid  a  basis 
that  nothing  is  able  to  expel  the  heavenly  inhabitant. 
But  have  there  not  been  some,  few  indeed,  I  hope, 
whose  youth  and  inexperience  have  rendered  them  a 
prey  to  wretches  whom,  upon  the  least  reflection,  they 
would  have  despised  and  hated  as  foes  to  God  and 
their  country?  I  fear  there  have  been  some  such 
unhappy  instances,  or  why  have  I  seen  an  honest 
father  clothed  with  shame ;  or  why  a  virtuous  mother 
drowned  in  tears? 

But  I  forbear,  and  come  reluctantly  to  the  transac 
tions  of  that  dismal  night  when  in  such  quick  succes 
sion  we  felt  the  extremes  of  grief,  astonishment  and 
rage ;  when  heaven  in  anger,  for  a  dreadful  moment, 
suffered  hell  to  take  the  reins;  when  Satan  with  his 
•chosen  band  opened  the  sluices  of  New  England's 


HANCOCK.  165 

blood,  and  sacrilegiously  polluted  our  land  with  the 
dead  bodies  of  her  guiltless  sons ! 

Let  this  sad  tale  of  death  never  be  told  without  a 
tear :  let  not  the  heaving  bosom  cease  to  burn  with 
a  manly  indignation  at  the  barbarous  story  through 
the  long  tracts  of  future  time :  let  every  parent  tell 
the  shameful  story  to  his  listening  children  until 
tears  of  pity  glisten  in  their  eyes  and  boiling  passions 
shake  their  tender  frames ;  and  whilst  the  anniversary 
of  that  ill-fated  night  is  kept  a  jubilee  in  the  grim 
court  of  pandemonium,  let  all  America  join  in  one 
common  prayer  to  heaven  that  the  inhuman,  unpro 
voked  murders  of  the  5th  of  March,  1770,  planned  by 
Hillsborough  and  a  knot  of  treacherous  knaves  in 
Boston,  and  executed  by  the  cruel  hand  of  Preston 
and  his  sanguinary  coadjutors,  may  ever  stand  on  his 
tory  without  a  parallel. 

But  what,  my  countrymen,  withheld  the  ready  arm 
of  vengeance  from  executing  instant  justice  on  the  vile 
assassins?  Perhaps  you  feared  promiscuous  carnage 
might  ensue,  and  that  the  innocent  might  share  the 
fate  of  those  who  had  performed  the  infernal  deed. 
But  were  not  all  guilty?  Were  you  not  too  tender  of 
the  lives  of  those  who  came  to  fix  a  yoke  on  your 
necks  ?  But  I  must  not  too  severely  blame  a  fault  which 
great  souls  only  can  commit.  May  that  magnificence  of 
spirit  which  scorns  the  low  pursuits  of  malice,  may 
that  generous  compassion  which  often  preserves  from 
ruin  even  a  guilty  villain,  forever  actuate  the  noble 
bosoms  of  Americans ! 

But  let  not  the  miscreant  host  vainly  imagine  that 
we  feared  their  arms.  No ;  them  we  despised ;  we  dread 


1 66  HANCOCK. 

nothing  but  slavery.  Death  is  the  creature  of  a  pol 
troon's  brains;  'tis  immortality  to  sacrifice  ourselves 
for  the  salvation  of  our  country.  We  fear  not  death. 
That  gloomy  night  the  pale-faced  moon,  and  the 
affrighted  stars  that  hurried  through  the  sky,  can 
witness  that  we  fear  not  death.  Our  hearts  which, 
at  the  recollection,  glow  with  rage  that  four  revolv 
ing  years  have  scarcely  taught  us  to  restrain,  can 
witness  that  we  fear  not  death;  and  happy  it  is  for 
those  who  dared  to  insult  us  that  their  naked  bones 
are  not  now  piled  up  an  everlasting  monument  of 
Massachusetts'  bravery. 

But  they  retired,  they  fled,  and  in  that  flight  they 
found  their  only  safety.  We  then  expected  that  the 
hand  of  public  justice  would  soon  inflict  that  punish 
ment  upon  the  murderers  which  by  the  laws  of  God 
and  man  they  had  incurred.  But  let  the  unbiased  pen 
of  a  Robertson,  or  perhaps  some  equally  famed  Ameri 
can,  conduct  this  trial  before  the  great  tribunal  of 
succeeding  generations.  And  though  the  murderers 
may  escape  the  just  resentment  of  an  enraged  peo 
ple;  though  drowsy  justice,  intoxicated  by  the  poi 
sonous  draught  prepared  for  her  cup,  still  nods  upon 
her  rotten  seat,  yet  be  assured  such  complicated 
crimes  will  meet  their  due  reward.  Tell  me,  ye 
bloody  butchers !  ye  villains  high  and  low !  ye  wretches 
who  contrived  as  well  as  you  who  executed  the  in 
human  deed!  do  you  not  feel  the  goads  and  stings 
of  conscious  guilt  pierce  through  your  savage  bosoms  ? 
Though  some  of  you  may  think  yourselves  exalted 
to  a  height  that  bids  defiance  to  human  justice;  and 
others  shroud  yourselves  beneath  the  mask  of  hypoc- 


HANCOCK.  167 

risy,  and  build  your  hopes  of  safety  on  the  low  arts 
of  cunning,  chicanery,  and  falsehood;  yet  do  you  not 
sometimes  feel  the  gnawings  of  that  worm  which 
never  dies  ?  Do  not  the  injured  shades  of  Maverick, 
Gray,  Caldwell,  Attucks,  and  Carr,  attend  you  in  your 
solitary  walks;  arrest  you  even  in  the  midst  of  your 
debaucheries,  and  fill  even  your  dreams  with  terror? 
But  if  the  unappeased  manes  of  the  dead  should  not 
disturb  their  murderers,  yet  surely  even  your  obdur 
ate  hearts  must  shrink,  and  your  guilty  blood  must 
chill  within  your  rigid  veins,  when  you  behold  the 
miserable  Monk,  the  wretched  victim  of  your  savage 
cruelty.  Observe  his  tottering  knees,  which  scarce 
sustain  his  wasted  body;  look  on  his  haggard  eyes; 
mark  well  the  death-like  paleness  on  his  fallen  cheek, 
and  tell  me,  does  not  the  sight  plant  daggers  in  your 
souls?  Unhappy  Monk!  cut  off  in  the  gay  morn  of 
manhood,  from  all  the  joys  which  sweeten  life, 
doomed  to  drag  on  a  pitiful  existence  without  even 
a  hope  to  taste  the  pleasures  of  returning  health ! 
Yet  Monk,  thou  livest  not  in  vain ;  thou  livest  a  warn 
ing  to  thy  country,  which  sympathizes  with  thee  in 
thy  sufferings;  thou  livest  an  affecting,  an  alarming 
instance  of  the  unbounded  violence  which  lust  of 
power,  assisted  by  a  standing  army,  can  lead  a  traitor 
to  commit. 

For  us  he  bled  and  now  languishes.  The  wounds 
by  which  he  is  tortured  to  a  lingering  death  were 
aimed  at  our  country !  Surely  the  meek-eyed  charity 
can  never  behold  such  sufferings  with  indifference. 
Nor  can  her  lenient  hand  forbear  to  pour  oil  and  wine 


1 68  HANCOCK. 

into  these  wounds,  and  to  assuage,  at  least,  what  it 
cannot  heal. 

Patriotism  is  ever  united  with  humanity  and  com 
passion.  This  noble  affection  which  impels  us  to 
sacrifice  everything  dear,  even  life  itself,  to  our  coun 
try,  involves  in  it  a  common  sympathy  and  tenderness 
for  every  citizen,  and  must  ever  have  a  particular 
feeling  for  one  who  suffers  in  a  public  cause.  Thor 
oughly  persuaded  of  this,  I  need  not  add  a  word  to  en 
gage  your  compassion  and  bounty  towards  a  fellow 
citizen  who,  with  long  protracted  anguish,  falls  a  vic 
tim  to  the  relentless  rage  of  our  common  enemies. 

Ye  dark  designing  knaves,  ye  murderers,  parri 
cides!  how  dare  you  tread  upon  the  earth  which  has 
drank  in  the  blood  of  slaughtered  innocents,  shed  by 
your  wicked  hands?  How  dare  you  breathe  that  air 
which  wafted  to  the  ear  of  heaven  the  groans  of  those 
who  fell  a  sacrifice  to  your  accursed  ambition?  But 
if  the  laboring  earth  doth  not  expand  her  jaws;  if  the 
air  you  breathe  is  not  commissioned  to  be  the  minis 
ter  of  death;  yet,  hear  it  and  tremble!  The  eye  of 
heaven  penetrates  the  darkest  chambers  of  the  soul, 
traces  the  leading  clue  through  all  the  labyrinths  which 
your  industrious  folly  has  devised;  and  you,  however 
you  may  have  screened  yourselves  from  human  eyes, 
must  be  arraigned,  must  lift  your  hands,  red  with  the 
blood  of  those  whose  death  you  have  procured,  at 
the  tremendous  bar  of  God ! 

But  I  gladly  quit  the  gloomy  theme  of  death  and 
leave  you  to  improve  the  thought  of  that  important 
day  when  our  naked  souls  must  stand  before  that 
Being  from  whom  nothing  can  be  hid.  I  would  not 


HANCOCK.  169. 

dwell  too  long  upon  the  horrid  effects  which  have 
already  followed  from  quartering  regular  troops  in 
this  town.  Let  our  misfortunes  teach  posterity  to 
guard  against  such  evils  for  the  future.  Standing 
armies  are  sometimes  (I  would  by  no  means  say 
generally,  much  less  universally)  composed  of  persons 
who  have  rendered  themselves  unfit  to  live  in  civil 
society;  who  have  no  other  motives  of  conduct  than 
those  which  a  desire  of  the  present  gratification  of 
their  passions  suggests;  who  have  no  property  in  any 
country;  men  who  have  given  up  their  own  liberties 
and  envy  those  who  enjoy  liberty;  who  are  equally 
indifferent  to  the  glory  of  a  George  or  a  Louis ;  who,, 
for  the  addition  of  one  penny  a  day  to  their  wages 
would  desert  from  the  Christian  cross  and  fight  under 
the  crescent  of  the  Turkish  sultan. 

From  such  men  as  these  what  has  not  a  state  to 
fear?  With  such  as  these  usurping  Caesar  passed 
the  Rubicon;  with  such  as  these  he  humbled  mighty 
Rome  and  forced  the  mistress  of  the  world  to  own  a 
master  in  a  traitor.  These  are  the  men  whom  scep 
tred  robbers  now  employ  to  frustrate  the  designs 
of  God  and  render  vain  the  bounties  which  his  gra 
cious  hand  pours  indiscriminately  upon  his  creatures. 
By  these  the  miserable  slaves  in  Turkey,  Persia,  and 
many  other  extensive  countries  are  rendered  truly 
wretched,  though  their  air  is  salubrious  and  their 
soil  luxuriously  fertile.  By  these,  France  and  Spain, 
though  blessed  by  nature  with  all  that  administers  to 
the  convenience  of  life,  have  been  reduced  to  that  con 
temptible  state  in  which  they  now  appear;  and  by 
these,  Britain — but  if  I  was  possessed  of  the  gift  of 


I/O  HANCOCK. 

prophecy  I  dare  not,  except  by  divine  command,  un 
fold  the  leaves  on  which  the  destiny  of  that  once 
powerful  kingdom  is  inscribed. 

But  since  standing  armies  are  so  hurtful  to  a  state, 
perhaps  my  countrymen  may  demand  some  substi 
tute,  some  other  means  of  rendering  us  secure  against 
the  incursions  of  a  foreign  enemy.  But  can  you  be 
one  moment  at  a  loss?  Will  not  a  well-disciplined 
militia  afford  you  ample  security  against  foreign  foes  ? 
We  want  not  courage;  it  is  discipline  alone  in  which 
we  are  exceeded  by  the  most  formidable  troops  that 
ever  trod  the  earth.  Surely  our  hearts  flutter  no 
more  at  the  sound  of  war  than  did  those  of  the  im 
mortal  band  of  Persia,  the  Macedonian  phalanx,  the 
invincible  Roman  legions,  the  Turkish  janissaries, 
the  gens  d'armes  of  France,  or  the  well-known  grena 
diers  of  Britain. 

A  well-disciplined  militia  is  a  safe,  an  honorable 
guard  to  a  community  like  this,  whose  inhabitants  are 
by  nature  brave,  and  are  laudably  tenacious  of  that 
freedom  in  which  they  were  born.  From  a  well- 
regulated  militia  we  have  nothing  to  fear;  their  in 
terest  is  the  same  with  that  of  the  state.  When  a 
country  is  invaded,  the  militia  are  ready  to  appear 
in  its  defence ;  they  march  into  the  field  with  that  for 
titude  which  a  consciousness  of  the  justice  of  their 
cause  inspires;  they  do  not  jeopard  their  lives  for  a 
master  who  considers  them  only  as  the  instruments 
of  his  ambition,  and  whom  they  regard  only  as  the 
daily  dispenser  of  the  scanty  pittance  of  bread  and 
water. 

No,  they  fight  for  their  houses,  their  lands,  for  their 


HANCOCK.  171 

wives,  their  children,  for  all  who  claim  the  tenderest 
names,  and  are  held  dearest  in  their  hearts ;  they  fight 
pro  aris  et  focis,  for  their  liberty,  and  for  themselves, 
and  for  their  God.  And  let  it  not  offend  if  I  say 
that  no  militia  ever  appeared  in  more  flourishing  con 
dition  than  that  of  this  province  now  doth;  and  par 
don  me  if  I  say,  of  this  town  in  particular.  I  mean 
not  to  boast;  I  would  not  excite  envy,  but  manly 
emulation. 

We  have  all  one  common  cause;  let  it,  therefore, 
be  our  only  contest  who  shall  most  contribute  to  the 
security  of  the  liberties  of  America.  And  may  the 
same  kind  Providence  which  has  watched  over  this 
country  from  her  infant  state  still  enable  us  to  de 
feat  our  enemies. 

I  cannot  here  forbear  noticing  the  signal  manner 
in  which  the  designs  of  those  who  wish  not  well  to 
us  have  been  discovered.  The  dark  deeds  of  a  treach 
erous  cabal  have  been  brought  to  public  view.  You 
now  know  the  serpents  who,  whilst  cherished  in  your 
bosoms,  were  darting  their  envenomed  stings  into* 
the  vitals  of  the  Constitution. 

But  the  representatives  of  the  people  have  fixed 
a  mark  on  these  ungrateful  monsters,  which,  though 
it  may  not  make  them  so  secure  as  Cain  of  old,  yet 
renders  them  at  least  as  infamous.  Indeed,  it  would 
be  affrontive  to  the  tutelar  deity  of  this  country  even 
to  despair  of  saving  it  from  all  the  snares  which  human 
policy  can  lay. 

True  it  is  that  the  British  ministry  have  annexed 
a  salary  to  the  office  of  the  governor  of  this  province, 
to  be  paid  out  of  a  revenue  raised  in  America  without 


1  72  HANCOCK. 


consent.  They  have  attempted  to  render  our 
courts  of  justice  the  instruments  of  extending  the 
authority  of  acts  of  the  British  Parliament  over  this 
colony,  by  making  the  judges  dependent  on  the 
British  administration  for  their  support.  But  this 
people  will  never  be  enslaved  with  their  eyes  open. 
The  moment  they  knew  that  the  governor  was  not 
such  a  governor  as  the  charter  of  the  province  points 
out,  he  lost  his  power  of  hurting  them.  They  were 
alarmed;  they  suspected  him,  have  guarded  against 
him,  and  he  has  found  that  a  wise  and  a  brave  people, 
when  they  know  their  danger,  are  fruitful  in  expe 
dients  to  escape  it. 

The  courts  of  judicature,  also,  so  far  lost  their  dig 
nity,  by  being  supposed  to  be  under  an  undue  influ 
ence,  that  our  representatives  thought  it  absolutely 
necessary  to  resolve  that  they  were  bound  to  declare 
that  they  would  not  receive  any  other  salary  besides 
that  which  the  General  Court  should  grant  them;  and 
if  they  did  not  make  this  declaration,  that  it  would 
be  the  duty  of  the  House  to  impeach  them. 

Great  expectations  were  also  formed  from  the  art 
ful  scheme  of  allowing  the  East  India  Company  to 
export  tea  to  America  upon  their  own  account.  This 
certainly,  had  it  succeeded,  would  have  effected  the 
purpose  of  the  contrivers  and  gratified  the  most  san 
guine  wishes  of  our  adversaries.  We  soon  should 
have  found  our  trade  in  the  hands  of  foreigners,  and 
taxes  imposed  on  everything  which  we  consumed; 
nor  would  it  have  been  strange  if  in  a  few  years  a 
company  in  London  should  have  purchased  an  exclu 
sive  right  of  trading  to  America. 


HANCOCK.  1/3 

But  their  plot  was  soon  discovered.  The  people 
soon  were  aware  of  the  poison  which,  with  so  much 
craft  and  subtility,  had  been  concealed.  Loss  and 
disgrace  ensued :  and,  perhaps  this  long-concerted  mas 
terpiece  of  policy  may  issue  in  the  total  disuse  of  tea 
in  this  country,  which  will  eventually  be  the  saving 
of  the  lives  and  the  estates  of  thousands. 

Yet  while  we  rejoice  that  the  adversary  has  not 
hitherto  prevailed  against  us,  let  us  by  no  means  put 
off  the  harness.  Restless  malice  and  disappointed 
ambition  will  still  suggest  new  measures  to  our  in 
veterate  enemies.  Therefore,  let  us  also  be  ready  to 
take  the  field  whenever  danger  calls ;  let  us  be  united 
and  strengthen  the  hands  of  each  other  by  promoting 
a  general  union  among  us.  Much  has  been  done  by 
the  committees  of  correspondence  for  this  and  the 
other  towns  of  this  province  toward  uniting  the  in 
habitants;  let  them  still  go  on  and  prosper.  Much 
has  been  done  by  the  committees  of  correspondence, 
for  the  houses  of  assembly,  in  this  and  our  sister  colo 
nies,  for  uniting  the  inhabitants  of  the  whole  conti 
nent  for  the  security  of  their  common  interest.  May 
success  ever  attend  their  generous  endeavors. 

But  permit  me  here  to  suggest  a  general  congress 
of  deputies  from  the  several  houses  of  assembly  on 
the  continent  as  the  most  effectual  method  of  estab 
lishing  such  an  union  as  the  present  posture  of  our 
affairs  require. 

At  such  a  congress  a  firm  foundation  may  be  laid 
for  the  security  of  our  rights  and  liberties;  a  system 
may  be  formed  for  our  common  safety,  by  a  strict 
adherence  to  which  we  shall  be  able  to  frustrate  any 


1/4  HANCOCK. 

attempts  to  overthrow  our  Constitution;  restore 
peace  and  harmony  in  America,  and  secure  honor  and 
wealth  to  Great  Britain  even  against  the  inclinations 
of  her  ministers,  whose  duty  it  is  to  study  her  wel 
fare  ;  and  we  shall  also  free  ourselves  from  those  un 
mannerly  pillagers  who  impudently  tell  us  that  they 
are  licensed  by  an  act  of  the  British  Parliament  to 
thrust  their  dirty  hands  into  the  pockets  of  every 
American.  But  I  trust  the  happy  time  will  come  when, 
with  the  besom  of  destruction,  those  noxious  vermin 
will  be  swept  forever  from  the  streets  of  Boston. 

Surely  you  never  will  tamely  suffer  this  country  to 
be  a  den  of  thieves.  Remember,  my  friends,  from 
whom  you  sprang.  Let  not  a  meanness  of  spirit  un 
known  to  those  \vhom  you  boast  of  as  your  fathers 
excite  a  thought  to  the  dishonor  of  your  mothers.  I 
conjure  you  by  all  that  is  dear,  by  all  that  is  honor 
able,  by  all  that  is  sacred,  not  only  that  ye  pray,  but 
that  ye  act;  that,  if  necessary,  ye  fight,  and  even  die, 
for  the  prosperity  of  our  Jerusalem.  Break  in  sun 
der,  with  noble  disdain,  the  bonds  with  which  the 
Philistines  have  bound  you.  Suffer  not  yourselves 
to  be  betrayed,  by  the  soft  arts  of  luxury  and  effemi 
nacy,  into  the  pit  digged  for  your  destruction.  De 
spise  the  glare  of  wealth.  That  people  who  pay 
greater  respect  to  a  wealthy  villain  than  to  an  honest, 
upright  man  in  poverty,  almost  deserve  to  be  en 
slaved;  they  plainly  show  that  wealth,  however  it 
may  be  acquired,  is,  in  their  esteem,  to  be  preferred 
to  virtue. 

But  I  thank  God  that  America  abounds  in  men  who 
are  superior  to  all  temptation;  whom  nothing  can 


HANCOCK.  175 

divert  from  a  steady  pursuit  of  the  interest  of  their 
country ;  who  are  at  once  its  ornament  and  safeguard. 
And  sure  I  am  I  should  not  incur  your  displeasure 
if  I  paid  a  respect,  so  justly  due  to  their  much  honored 
characters,  in  this  place.  But  when  I  name  an  Adams, 
such  a  numerous  host  of  fellow  patriots  rush  upon 
my  mind  that  I  fear  it  would  take  up  too  much  of 
your  time  should  I  attempt  to  call  over  the  illustrious 
roll. 

But  your  grateful  hearts  will  point  you  to  the  men ; 
and  their  revered  names  in  all  succeeding  times  shall 
grace  the  annals  of  America.  From  them  let  us,  my 
friends,  take  example ;  from  them  let  us  catch  the 
divine  enthusiasm;  and  feel,  each  for  himself,  the 
god-like  pleasure  of  diffusing  happiness  on  all  around 
us;  of  delivering  the  oppressed  from  the  iron  grasp 
of  tyranny;  of  changing  the  hoarse  complaints  and 
bitter  moans  of  wretched  slaves  into  those  cheerful 
songs  which  freedom  and  contentment  must  inspire. 

There  is  a  heartfelt  satisfaction  in  reflecting  on 
our  exertions  for  the  public  weal  which  all  the  suffer 
ings  an  enraged  tyrant  can  inflict  will  never  take 
away;  which  the  ingratitude  and  reproaches  of  those 
whom  we  have  saved  from  ruin  cannot  rob  us  of. 
The  virtuous  asserter  of  the  rights  of  mankind  merits 
a  reward  which  even  a  want  of  success  in  his  endeav 
ors  to  save  his  country,  the  heaviest  misfortune 
which  can  befall  a  genuine  patriot,  cannot  entirely 
prevent  him  from  receiving. 

I  have  the  most  animating  confidence  that  the  pres 
ent  noble  struggle  for  liberty  will  terminate  glor 
iously  for  America.  And  let  Us  play  the  man  for  our 


HANCOCK. 

God,  and  for  the  cities  of  our  God ;  while  we  are  using" 
the  means  in  our  power,  let  us  humbly  commit  our 
righteous  cause  to  the  great  Lord  of  the  universe, 
who  loveth  righteousness  and  hateth  iniquity.  And 
having  secured  the  approbation  of  our  hearts,  by  a 
faithful  and  unwearied  discharge  of  our  duty  to  our 
country,  let  us  joyfully  leave  our  concerns  in  the  hands 
of  him  who  raiseth  up  and  putteth  down  the  empires 
and  kingdoms  of  the  world  as  he  pleases;  and  with 
cheerful  submission  to  his  sovereign  will  devoutly  say, 
"  Although  the  fig-tree  shall  not  blossom,  neither  shall 
fruit  be  in  the  vines;  the  labor  of  the  olive  shall  fail, 
and  the  field  shall  yield  no  meat ;  the  flock  shall  be  cut 
off  from  the  fold,  and  there  shall  be  no  herd  in  the 
stalls;  yet  we  will  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  we  will  joy  in 
the  God  of  our  salvation.'' 


PAINE.  177 

Paine,  Thomas,  a  famous  Anglo-American  patriot, 
orator  and  free-thinker,  born  at  Thetford,  Norfolk,  England, 
Jan.  29,  1737  ;  died  at  New  Rochelle,  N.Y.,  June  8,  1809. 
He  emigrated  to  America  in  1774,  and  finding  employment  in 
Philadelphia,  put  forth  early  in  1776  the  pamphlet  "  Com 
mon  Sense,"  which  was  a  leading  factor  in  final  triumph  of 
the  American  cause.  Between  December  of  that  year  and 
December  1783,  appeared  the  sixteen  numbers  of  his  publi 
cation  "  The  Crisis,"  in  the  first  of  which  occurs  the  famous 
phrase,  "These  are  the  times  that  try  men's  souls."  He 
was  one  of  the  most  popular  men  in  the  colonies  at  this 
time,  and  was  made  secretary  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs  by  Congress  in  1777,  and  later  sent  on  the  mission  to 
France  with  Laurens.  In  1792  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  French  National  Convention,  but  was  presently  thrown 
into  prison  by  Robespierre,  escaping  the  guillotine  by  acci 
dent.  In  1802,  when  he  returned  to  the  United  States,  his. 
former  popularity  had  vanished,  very  largely  on  account 
of  his  publication  of  his  "  Age  of  Reason,"  and  he  died 
in  obscuity.  Paine  had  many  of  the  orator's  qualifica 
tions—readiness,  skill  in  arranging  his  facts,  keen  satire,, 
an  abundance  of  wit,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  human  heart. 


SPEECH  IN  THE  FRENCH  NATIONAL  CON 
VENTION. 

DELIVERED  JULY  7,   1795- 

CITIZENS, — The  effects  of  a  malignant  fever  with 
which  I  was  afflicted  during  a  rigorous  confinement 
in  the  Luxembourg  have  thus  long  prevented  me  from 
attending  at  my  post  in  the  bosom  of  the  convention, 
and  the  magnitude  of  the  subject  under  discussion, 


1 78  PAINE. 

and  no  other  consideration  on  earth,  could  induce  me 
now  to  repair  to  my  station. 

A  recurrence  to  the  vicissitudes  I  have  experienced, 
and  the  critical  situation  in  which  I  have  been  placed 
in  consequence  of  the  French  revolution,  will  throw 
upon  what  I  now  propose  to  submit  to  the  convention 
the  most  unequivocal  proofs  of  my  integrity  and  the 
rectitude  of  those  principles  which  have  uniformly  in 
fluenced  my  conduct. 

In  England  I  was  proscribed  for  having  vindicated 
the  French  revolution,  and  I  have  suffered  a  rigorous 
imprisonment  in  France  for  having  pursued  a  similar 
mode  of  conduct.  During  the  reign  of  terrorism  I 
was  a  close  prisoner  for  eight  long  months,  and  re 
mained  so  above  three  months  after  the  era  of  the 
loth  Thermidor.  I  ought,  however,  to  state  that  I 
was  not  persecuted  by  the  people  either  of  England 
or  France.  The  proceedings  in  both  countries  were 
the  effects  of  the  despotism  existing  in  their  respec 
tive  governments.  But,  even  if  my  persecution  had 
originated  in  the  people  at  large,  my  principles  and 
conduct  would  still  have  remained  the  same. 
Principles  which  are  influenced  and  subject  to  the 
control  of  tyranny  have  not  their  foundation  in  the 
heart. 

A  few  days  ago  I  transmitted  to  you,  by  the  ordi 
nary  mode  of  distribution,  a  short  treatise  entitled 
'"  Dissertation  on  the  First  Principles  of  Government." 
This  little  work  I  did  intend  to  have  dedicated  to  the 
people  of  Holland,  who,  about  the  time  I  began  to 
write  it,  were  determined  to  accomplish  a  revolution 
in  their  government,  rather  than  to  the  people  of 


PAINE.  179 

France,  who  had  long  before  effected  that  glorious 
object.  But  there  are,  in  the  constitution  which  is 
about  to  be  ratified  by  the  convention,  certain  articles, 
and  in  the  report  which  preceded  it  certain  points, 
so  repugnant  to  reason  and  incompatible  with  the  true 
principles  of  liberty  as  to  render  this  treatise,  drawn 
up  for  another  purpose,  applicable  to  the  present  oc 
casion,  and  under'  this  impression  I  presumed  to  sub 
mit  it  to  your  consideration. 

If  there  be  faults  in  the  constitution  it  were  better 
to  expunge  them  now  than  to  abide  the  event  of  their 
mischievous  tendency;  for  certain  it  is  that  the  plan 
of  the  constitution  which  has  been  presented  to  you 
is  not  consistent  with  the  grand  object  of  the  revo 
lution,  nor  congenial  to  the  sentiments  of  the  individ 
uals  who  accomplished  it. 

To  deprive  half  the  people  in  a  nation  of  their  rights 
as  citizens  is  an  easy  matter  in  theory  or  on  paper, 
but  it  is  a  most  dangerous  experiment  and  rarely  prac 
ticable  in  the  execution. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  the  observations  I  have  to 
offer  on  this  important  subject;  and  I  pledge  myself 
that  they  shall  be  neither  numerous  nor  diffusive. 

In  my  apprehension  a  constitution  embraces  two 
distinct  parts  or  objects,  the  principle  and  the  prac 
tice;  and  it  is  not  only  an  essential  but  an  indispens 
able  provision  that  the  practice  should  emanate  from 
and  accord  with  the  principle.  Now  I  maintain  that 
the  converse  of  this  proposition  is  the  case  in  the  plan 
of  the  constitution  under  discussion.  The  first  arti 
cle,  for  instance,  of  the  political  state  of  citizens 
{vide.  Title  II  of  the  Constitution)  says : 


180  PAINE. 

"  Every  man  born  and  resident  of  France,  who, 
being  twenty-one  years  of  age,  has  inscribed  his 
name  on  the  civic  register  of  his  canton,  and  who  has 
lived  afterward  one  year  on  the  territory  of  the  re 
public,  and  who  pays  any  direct  contribution  whatso 
ever,  real  or  personal,  is  a  French  citizen." 

I  might  ask  here,  if  those  only  who  come  under  the 
above  description  are  to  be  considered  as  citizens,  what 
designation  do  you  mean  to  give  the  rest  of  the  peo 
ple  ?  I  allude  to  that  portion  of  the  people  on  whom 
the  principal  part  of  the  labor  falls,  and  on  whom  the 
weight  of  indirect  taxation  will  in  the  event  chiefly 
press.  In  the  structure  of  the  social  fabric,  this  class 
of  people  are  infinitely  superior  to  that  privileged  or 
der  whose  only  qualification  is  their  wealth  or  terri 
torial  possessions.  For  what  is  trade  without  mer 
chants?  What  is  land  without  cultivation?  And 
what  is  the  produce  of  the  land  without  manufactures  ? 
But  to  return  to  the  subject. 

In  the  first  place,  this  article  is  incompatible  with  the 
three  first  articles  of  the  declaration  of  rights,  which 
precede  the  constitution  act. 

The  first  article  of  the  declaration  of  rights  says : 

"  The  end  of  society  is  the  public  good ;  and  the 
institution  of  government  is  to  secure  to  every  indn 
yidual  the  enjoyment  of  his  rights." 

But  the  article  of  the  constitution  to  which  I  have 
just  adverted  proposes  as  the  object  of  society,  not 
the  public  good,  or  in  other  words,  the  good  of  all,  but 
a  partial  good,  or  the  good  only  of  a  few ;  and  the  con- 


PAINE.  l8l 

stitution  provides  solely  for  the  rights  of  this  few  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  many. 

The  second  article  of  the  declaration  of  rights,  says : 

"  The  rights  of  man  in  society  are  liberty,  equality, 
and  security  of  his  person  and  property." 

But  the  article  alluded  to  in  the  constitution  has  a 
direct  tendency  to  establish  the  converse  of  this  posi 
tion,  inasmuch  as  the  persons  excluded  by  this  inequal 
ity  can  neither  be  said  to  possess  liberty  nor  security 
against  oppression.  They  are  consigned  totally  to  the 
caprice  and  tyranny  of  the  rest. 

The  third  article  of  the  declaration  of  rights  says: 

"  Liberty  consists  in  such  acts  of  volition  as  are  not 
injurious  to  others." 

But  the  article  of  the  constitution  on  which  I  have 
observed  breaks  down  this  barrier.  It  enables  the 
liberty  of  one  part  of  society  to  destroy  the  freedom  of 
the  other. 

Having  thus  pointed  out  the  inconsistency  of  this 
article  to  the  declaration  of  rights  I  shall  proceed  to 
comment  on  that  part  of  the  same  article  which  makes 
a  direct  contribution  a  necessary  qualification  to  the 
right  of  citzenship. 

A  modern  refinement  on  the  object  of  public  reve 
nue  has  divided  the  taxes  or  contributions  into  two 
classes,  the  direct  and  the  indirect,  without  being  able 
to  define  precisely  the  distinction  or  difference  be 
tween  them,  because  the  effect  of  both  is  the  same. 


1 82  PAINE. 

Those  are  designated  indirect  taxes  which  fall  upon 
the  consumers  of  certain  articles  on  which  the  tax  is 
imposed,  because,  the  tax  being  included  in  the  price, 
the  consumer  pays  it  without  taking  notice  of  it. 

The  same  observation  is  applicable  to  the  territorial 
tax.  The  land  proprietors,  in  order  to  reimburse  them 
selves,  will  rack-rent  their  tenants :  the  farmer,  of 
course,  will  transfer  the  obligation  to  the  miller  by 
enhancing  the  price  of  grain ;  the  miller  to  the  baker, 
by  increasing  the  price  of  flour;  and  the  baker  to  the 
consumer,  by  raising  the  price  of  bread.  The  terri 
torial  tax,  therefore,  though  called  direct,  is  in  its  con 
sequences  indirect. 

To  this  tax  the  land  proprietor  contributes  only  in 
proportion  to  the  quantity  of  bread  and  other  provi 
sions  that  are  consumed  in  his  own  family.  The  de 
ficit  is  furnished  by  the  great  mass  of  the  community, 
which  comprehends  every  individual  of  the  nation. 

From  the  logical  distinction  between  the  direct  and 
indirect  taxation,  some  emolument  may  result,  I  al 
low,  to  auditors  of  public  accounts,  etc.,  but  to  the 
people  at  large  I  deny  that  such  a  distinction  (which 
by  the  way  is  without  a  difference)  can  be  productive 
of  any  practical  benefit.  It  ought  not,  therefore,  to  be 
admitted  as  a  principle  in  the  constitution. 

Besides  this  objection,  the  provision  in  question 
does  not  affect  to  define,  secure,  or  establish  the  right 
of  citizenship.  It  consigns  to  the  caprice  or  discretion 
of  the  legislature  the  power  of  pronouncing  who  shall 
or  shall  not,  exercise  the  functions  of  a  citizen;  and 
this  may  be  done  effectually,  either  by  the  imposition 
of  a  direct  or  indirect  tax,  according  to  the  selfish 


PAINE.  183 

views  of  the  legislators,  or  by  the  mode  of  collecting 
the  taxes  so  imposed. 

Neither  a  tenant  who  occupies  an  extensive  farm, 
nor  a  merchant  or  manufacturer,  ^  who  may  have  em 
barked  a  large  capital  in  their  respective  pursuits,  can 
ever,  according  to  this  system,  attain  the  pre-emption 
of  a  citizen.  On  the  other  hand,  any  upstart  who  has 
by  succession  or  management  got  possession  of  a  few 
acres  of  land,  or  a  miserable  tenement,  may  exulting- 
ly  exercise  the  functions  of  a  citizen,  although  per 
haps  neither  possesses  a  hundredth  part  of  the  worth  of 
property  of  a  simple  mechanic,  nor  contributes  in  any 
proportion  to  the  exigencies  of  the  state. 

The  contempt  in  which  the  old  government  held 
mercantile  pursuits,  and  the  obloquy  that  attached  on 
merchants  and  manufacturers,  contributed  not  a  little 
to  its  embarrassments  and  its  eventual  subversion; 
and,  strange  to  tell,  though  the  mischiefs  arising  from 
this  mode  of  conduct  are  so  obvious,  yet  an  article  is 
proposed  for  your  adoption  which  has  a  manifest  ten 
dency  to  restore  a  defect  inherent  in  the  monarchy. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  the  second  article  of  the 
same  title,  with  which  I  shall  conclude  my  remarks. 

The  second  article  says : 

"  Every  French  soldier  who  shall  have  served  one 
or  more  campaigns  in  the  cause  of  liberty  is  deemed  a 
citizen  of  the  republic  without  any  respect  or  refer 
ence  to  other  qualifications." 

It  should  seem  that  in  this  article  the  committee 
were  desirous  of  extricating  themselves  from  a  dilem- 


1 84  PAINE. 

ma  into  which  they  had  been  plunged  by  the  preced 
ing  article.  -When  men  depart  from  an  established 
principle  they  are  compelled  to  resort  to  trick  and 
subterfuge,  always  shifting  their  means  to  preserve 
the  unity  of  their  objects ;  and  as  it  rarely  happens  that 
the  first  expedient  makes  amends  for  the  prostitution 
of  principle,  they  must  call  in  aid  a  second  of  a  more 
flagrant  nature  to  supply  the  deficiency  of  the  former. 
In  this  manner  legislators  go  on  accumulating  error 
upon  error,  and  artifice  upon  artifice,  until  the  mass 
becomes  so  bulky  and  incongruous,  and  their  embar 
rassment  so  desperate,  that  they  are  compelled,  as 
their  last  expedient,  to  resort  to  the  very  principle  they 
had  violated.  The  committee  were  precisely  in  this 
predicament  when  they  framed  this  article;  and  to 
me,  I  confess,  their  conduct  appears  specious  rather 
than  efficacious. 

It  was  not  for  himself  alone,  but  for  his  family, 
that  the  French  citizen  at  the  dawn  of  the  revolution 
(for  then  indeed  every  man  was  considered  a  citizen) 
marched  soldier-like  to  the  frontiers  and  repelled  a 
foreign  invasion.  He  had  it  not  in  his  contemplation 
that  he  should  enjoy  liberty  for  the  residue  of  his 
earthly  career,  and  by  his  own  act  preclude  his  off 
spring  from  that  inestimable  blessing.  No !  He 
wished  to  leave  it  as  an  inheritance  to  his  children, 
and  that  they  also  might  hand  it  down  to  their  latest 
posterity.  If  a  Frenchman  who  united  in  his  person 
the  character  of  a  soldier  and  a  citizen  was  now  to  re 
turn  from  the  army  to  his  peaceful  habitation,  he  must 
address  his  family  in  this  manner :  "  Sorry  I  am  that 
I  cannot  leave  to  you  a  small  portion  of  what  I  have 


PAINE.  185 

acquired  by  exposing  my  person  to  the  ferocity  of  our 
enemies  and  defeating  their  machinations.  I  have 
helped  to  establish  the  republic,  and,  painful  the  re 
flection,  all  the  laurels  which  I  have  won  in  the  field 
are  blasted,  and  all  the  privileges  to  which  my  exer 
tions  have  entitled  me  extend  not  beyond  the  period 
of  my  own  existence !"  Thus  the  measure  that  has 
been  adopted  by  way  of  subterfuge  falls  short  of  what 
the  framers  of  it  speculated  upon;  for  in  conciliating 
the  affections  of  the  soldier  they  have  subjected  the 
father  to  the  most  pungent  sensations  by  obliging  him 
to  adopt  a  generation  of  slaves. 

Citizens,  a  great  deal  has  been  urged  respecting  in 
surrections.  I  am  confident  that  no  man  has  a  greater 
abhorrence  of  them  than  myself,  and  I  am  sorry  that 
any  insinuations  should  have  been  thrown  out  against 
me  as  a  promoter  of  violence  of  any  kind.  The  whole 
tenor  of  my  life  and  conversation  gives  the  lie  to  those 
calumnies  and  proves  me  to  be  a  friend  to  order,  truth, 
and  justice. 

I  hope  you  will  attribute  this  effusion  of  my  senti 
ments  to  my  anxiety  for  the  honor  and  success  of  the 
revolution.  I  have  no  interest  distinct  from  that  which 
has  a  tendency  to  meliorate  the  condition  of  mankind. 
The  revolution,  as  far  as  it  respects  myself,  has  been 
productive  of  more  loss  and  persecution  than  it  is 
possible  for  me  to  describe  or  for  you  to  indemnify. 
But  with  respect  to  the  subject  under  consideration 
I  could  not  refrain  from  declaring  my  sentiments. 

In  my  opinion,  if  you  subvert  the  basis  of  the  revo 
lution,  if  you  dispense  with  principles  and  substitute 
expedients,  you  will  extinguish  that  enthusiasm  and 


1 86  PAINE. 

energy  which  have  hitherto  been  the  life  and  soul  of 
the  revolution;  and  you  will  substitute  in  its  place 
nothing  but  a  cold  indifference  and  self-interest  which 
will  again  degenerate  into  intrigue,  cunning,  and  ef 
feminacy. 

But  to  discard  all  considerations  of  a  personal  and 
subordinate  nature,  it  is  essential  to  the  well-being  of 
the  republic  that  the  practical  or  organic  part  of  the 
constitution  should  correspond  with  its  principles ;  and 
as  this  does  not  appear  to  be  the  case  in  the  plan  that 
has  been  presented  to  you  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
that  it  should  be  submitted  to  the  revision  of  a  com 
mittee  who  should  be  instructed  to  compare  it  with 
the  declaration  of  rights,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  dif 
ference  between  the  two  and  to  make  such  alterations 
as  shall  render  them  perfectly  consistent  and  compat 
ible  with  each  other. 


RUTLEDGE.  l8/ 

Rutledge,  John,  an  American  statesman  and  orator, 
born  in  Charleston,  S.  C.,  1739  ;  died  there,  July  18,  1800. 
He  was  educated  for  the  law  in  London,  and  establishing 
himself  in  his  native  city  in  1761  he  soon  became  prominent 
in  professional  and  public  affairs.  He  was  a  delegate  to 
the  Stamp  Act  Congress  in  1765,  and  on  this  occasion 
made  a  spirited  defence  of  the  principles  of  colonial  union, 
and  also  urged  resistance  against  foreign  oppression.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  first  Continental  Congress,  and  was 
termed  by  Patrick  Henry,  "  by  far  the  greatest  orator  in 
that  body."  His  State  chose  him  its  governor  and  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  its  army  in  1779,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
American  Revolution  he  was  elected  to  Congress  and  was 
among  the  framers  of  the  Constitution.  In  1795  he  became 
Chief-justice  of  South  Carolina.  Among  his  more  notable 
speeches  is  the  one  delivered  before  the  General  Assembly 
of  South  Carolina,  in  January,  1782. 


SPEECH  TO  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY. 

[Governor  Rutledge  delivered  the  following  speech  to  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  of  South  Carolina,  met  at  Jacksonburgh,  in  that 
State,  on  Friday,  the  eighteenth  day  of  January,  1782.  It  evinces 
his  unwearied  zeal  and  attention  to  the  interests  of  the  colonies, 
and  presents  a  vivid  picture  of  the  perfidy,  rapine,  and  cruelty  which 
distinguished  the  British  arms  in  the  southern  campaign. 

HONORABLE  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE,  MR. 
SPEAKER  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REP 
RESENTATIVES,  —  Since  the  last  meeting  of  a 
general  assembly  the  good  people  of  this  State  have 
not  only  felt  the  common  calamities  of  war,  but  from 
the  wanton  and  savage  manner  in  which  it  has  been 
prosecuted  they  have  experienced  such  severities  as 


1 88  RUTLEDGE. 

are  unpractised  and  will  scarcely  be  credited  by  civi 
lized  nations. 

The  enemy  unable  to  make  any  impression  on  the 
northern  States,  the  number  of  whose  inhabitants  and 
the  strength  of  whose  country  had  baffled  their  re 
peated  efforts,  turned  their  views  towards  the  south 
ern,  which  a  difference  of  circumstances  afforded 
some  expectation  of  conquering,  or  at  least  of  greatly 
distressing.  After  a  long  resistance  the  reduction 
of  Charleston  was  effected  by  the  vast  superiority  of 
force  with  which  it  had  been  besieged.  The  loss  of 
that  garrison,  as  it  consisted  of  the  Continental  troops 
of  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  and  of  a  number  of 
militia,  facilitated  the  enemy's  march  into  the  country 
and  their  establishment  of  strong  posts  in  the  upper 
and  interior  parts  of  it,  and  the  unfavorable  issue  of 
the  action  near  Camden  induced  them  vainly  to  im 
agine  that  no  other  army  could  be  collected  which  they 
might  not  easily  defeat. 

The  militia,  commanded  by  the  Brigadiers  Sumter 
and  Marion,  whose  enterprising  spirit  and  unremitting 
perseverance  under  many  difficulties  are  deserving  of 
great  applause,  harassed  and  often  defeated  large  par 
ties  ;  but  the  numbers  of  those  militia  were  too  few  to 
contend  effectually  with  the  collected  strength  of  the 
enemy. 

Regardless,  therefore,  of  the  sacred  ties  of  honor, 
destitute  of  the  feelings  of  humanity,  and  determined 
to  extinguish,  if  possible,  every  spark  of  freedom  in 
this  country ;  they,  with  the  insolent  pride  of  conquer 
ors,  gave  unbounded  scope  to  the  exercises  of  their 
tyrannical  disposition,  infringed  their  public  engage- 


RUTLEDGE.  189 

ments,  and  violated  the  most  solemn  capitulations. 
Many  of  our  worthiest  citizens  were,  without  cause, 
long  and  closely  confined,  some  on  board  of  prison 
ships,  and  others  in  the  town  and  castle  of  St.  Augus 
tine,  their  properties  disposed  of  at  the  will  and  caprice 
of  the  enemy,  and  their  families  sent  to  different  and 
distant  parts  of  the  continent  without  the  means  of 
support.  Many  who  had  surrendered  as  prisoners  of 
war  were  killed  in  cold  blood ;  several  suffered  death 
in  the  most  ignominious  manner,  and  others  were  de 
livered  up  to  savages  and  put  to  tortures  under  which 
they  expired.  Thus,  the  lives,  liberties,  and  proper 
ties  of  the  people  were  dependent  solely  on  the  pleas 
ure  of  British  officers,  who  deprived  them  of  either 
or  all  on  the  most  frivolous  pretences.  Indians, 
slaves,  and  a  desperate  banditti  of  the  most  profligate 
characters  were  caressed  and  employed  by  the  enemy 
to  execute  their  infamous  purposes;  devastation  and 
ruin  marked  their  progress  and  that  of  their  adher 
ents,  nor  were  their  violences  restrained  by  the 
charms  or  influence  of  beauty  and  innocence ;  even  the 
fair  sex,  whom  it  is  the  duty  of  all,  and  the  pleasure 
and  pride  of  the  brave  to  protect,  they  and  their  tender 
offspring  were  victims  to  the  inveterate  malice  of  an 
unrelenting  foe ;  neither  the  tears  of  mothers  nor  the 
cries  of  infants  could  excite  in  their  breasts  pity  or 
compassion;  not  only  the  peaceful  habitation  of  the 
widow,  the  aged,  and  the  infirm,  but  the  holy  temples 
of  the  Most  High  were  consumed,  in  flames  kindled 
by  their  sacrilegious  hands.  They  have  tarnished  the 
glory  of  the  British  arms,  disgraced  the  profession  of 


RUTLEDGE. 

a  soldier,  and  fixed  indelible  stigmas  of  rapine,  cruel 
ty,  perfidy,  and  profaneness  on  the  British  name. 

But  I  can  now  congratulate  you,  and  I  do  most  cor 
dially  on  the  pleasing  change  of  affairs  which,  under 
the  blessing  of  God,  the  wisdom,  prudence,  address, 
and  bravery  of  the  great  and  gallant  General  Greene, 
and  the  intrepidity  of  the  officers  and  men  under  his 
command,  have  happily  effected.  A  general  who  is 
justly  entitled  from  his  many  signal  services  to  hon 
orable  and  singular  marks  of  your  approbation  and 
gratitude,  his  successes  have  been  more  rapid  and 
complete  than  the  most  sanguine  could  have  expected ; 
the  enemy,  compelled  to  surrender  or  evacuate  every 
post  which  they  held  in  the  country,  frequently  de 
feated  and  driven  from  place  to  place,  are  obliged  to 
seek  refuge  under  the  walls  of  Charleston  and  on  isl 
ands  in  its  vicinity.  We  have  now  the  full  and  abso 
lute  possession  of  every  other  part  of  the  State,  and 
the  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  powers  are  in 
the  free  exercise  of  their  respective  authorities. 

I  also  most  heartily  congratulate  you  on  the  glorious 
victory  obtained  by  the  combined  forces  of  America 
and  France  over  their  common  enemy ;  when  the  very 
general  who  was  second  in  command  at  the  reduction 
of  Charleston,  and  to  whose  boasted  prowess  and 
highly  extolled  abilities  the  conquest  of  no  less  than 
three  States  had  been  arrogantly  committed,  was 
speedily  compelled  to  accept  of  the  same  mortifying 
terms  which  had  been  imposed  on  that  brave  but  un 
fortunate  garrison;  to  surrender  an  army  of  many 
thousand  regulars,  and  to  abandon  his  wretched  fol 
lowers,  whom  he  had  artfully  seduced  from  their  al- 


RUTLEDGE.  IQl 

legiance  by  specious  promises  of  protection  which  he 
could  never  have  hoped  to  fulfil,  to  the  justice  of  mer 
cy  of  their  country:  on  the  naval  superiority  estab 
lished  by  the  illustrious  ally  of  the  United  States — a 
superiority  in  itself  so  decided,  and  in  its  consequences 
so  extensive,  as  must  inevitably  soon  oblige  the  enemy 
to  yield  to  us  the  only  post  which  they  occupy  in  this 
State :  and  on  the  reiterated  proofs  of  the  sincerest 
friendship,  and  on  the  great  support  which  America 
has  received  from  that  powerful  monarch — a  monarch 
whose  magnanimity  is  universally  acknowledged  and 
admired,  and  on  whose  royal  word  we  may  confident 
ly  rely  for  every  necessary  assistance :  on  the  perfect 
harmony  which  subsists  between  France  and  America : 
on  the  stability  which  her  independence  has  acquired, 
and  the  certainty  that  it  is  too  deeply  rooted  ever  to 
be  shaken;  for,  animated  as  they  are  by  national  hon 
or,  and  united  by  one  common  interest,  it  must  and 
will  be  maintained. 

What  may  be  the  immediate  effects  on  the  British 
nation,  of  the  events  which  I  have  mentioned,  of  their 
loss  of  territory  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  of 
their  well-founded  apprehensions  from  the  powers  of 
France,  Spain,  and  Holland,  it  is  impossible  to  fore 
tell.  If  experience  can  teach  wisdom  to  a  haughty 
and  infatuated  people,  and  if  they  will  now  be  govern 
ed  by  reason,  they  will  have  learnt  they  can  have  no 
solid  ground  of  hope  to  conquer  any  State  in  the 
Union;  for  though  their  armies  have  obtained  tem 
porary  advantages  over  our  troops,  yet  the  citizens  of 
these  States,  firmly  resolved  as  they  are  never  to  re 
turn  to  a  domination  which,  near  six  years  ago,  they 


RUTLEDGE. 

unanimously  and  justly  renounced,  cannot  be  sub 
dued;  and  they  must  now  be  convinced  that  it  is  the 
height  of  folly  and  madness  to  persist  in  so  ruinous  a 
war. 

If,  however,  we  judge,  as  we  ought,  of  their  future 
by  their  past  conduct,  we  may  presume  that  they  will 
not  only  endeavor  to  keep  possession  of  our  capital, 
but  make  another  attempt,  howsoever  improbable  the 
success  of  it  may  appear,  to  subjugate  this  country :  it 
is  therefore  highly  incumbent  upon  us  to  use  our  most 
strenuous  efforts  to  frustrate  so  fatal  a  design ;  and  I 
earnestly  conjure  you,  by  the  sacred  love  which  you 
bear  to  your  country,  by  the  constant  remembrance  of 
her  bitter  sufferings,  and  by  the  just  detestation  of 
British  government  which  you  and  your  posterity  must 
forever  possess,  to  exert  your  utmost  faculties  for  that 
purpose  by  raising  and  equipping,  with  all  possible  ex 
pedition,  a  respectable  permanent  force,  and  by  mak 
ing  ample  provision  for  their  comfortable  subsistence. 

I  am  sensible  the  expense  will  be  great ;  but  a  mea 
sure  so  indispensable  to  the  preservation  of  our  free 
dom  is  above  every  pecuniary  consideration. 

The  organization  of  our  militia  is  likewise  a  subject 
of  infinite  importance :  a  clear  and  concise  law,  by 
which  the  burdens  of  service  will  be  equally  sustained 
and  a  competent  number  of  men  brought  forth  and 
kept  in  the  field  when  their  assistance  may  be  requir 
ed,  is  essential  to  our  security,  and  therefore  justly 
claims  your  immediate  and  serious  attention :  certain 
it  is  that  some  of  our  militia  have,  upon  several  occa 
sions,  exhibited  symptoms  of  valor  which  would  have 
reflected  honor  on  veteran  troops.  The  courage  and 


RUTLEDGE.  IQ3 

conduct  of  the  generals  whom  I  have  mentioned;  the 
cool  and  determined  bravery  displayed  by  Brigadier 
Pickens,  and,  indeed,  the  behavior  of  many  officers 
and  men  in  every  brigade,  are  unquestionable  testi 
monies  of  the  truth  of  this  assertion.  But  such  be 
havior  cannot  be  expected  from  militia  in  general, 
without  good  order  and  strict  discipline ;  nor  can  that 
order  and  discipline  be  established  but  by  a  salutary 
law  steadily  executed. 

Another  important  matter  for  your  deliberation  is 
the  conduct  of  such  of  our  citizens  as,  voluntarily 
avowing  their  allegiance  and  even  glorifying*  in  their 
professions  of  loyalty  and  attachment  to  his  Britannic 
Majesty,  have  offered  their  congratulations  on  the 
success  of  his  arms,  prayed  to  be  embodied  as  loyal 
militia,  accepted  commissions  in  his  service,  or  en 
deavored  to  subvert  our  constitution  and  establish  his 
power  in  its  stead ;  of  those  who  have  returned  to  this 
State,  in  defiance  of  law,  by  which  such  return  was 
declared  to  be  a  capital  offence,  and  have  bettered  the 
British  interest,  and  of  such  whose  behavior  has  been 
so  reprehensible  that  justice  and  policy  forbid  their 
free  re-admission  to  the  rights  and  privileges  of  citi 
zens. 

The  extraordinary  lenity  of  this  State  has  been  re 
markably  conspicuous.  Other  States  have  thought  it 
just  and  expedient  to  appropriate  the  property  of 
British  subjects  to  the  public  use;  but  we  have  for 
borne  even  to  take  the  profits  of  the  estates  of  our 
most  implacable  enemies.  It  is  with  you  to  determine 
whether  the  forfeiture  and  appropriation  of  their 
property  should  now  take  place :  if  such  should  be  your 


194  RUTLEDGE. 

determination,  though  many  of  our  warmest  friends 
have  been  reduced,  for  their  inflexible  attachment  to 
the  cause  of  their  country,  from  opulence  to  inconceiv 
able  distress,  and,  if  the  enemy's  will  and  power  had 
prevailed,  would  have  been  doomed  to  indigence 
and  beggary,  yet  it  will  redound  to  the  reputation  of 
this  State  to  provide  a  becoming  support  for  the  fam 
ilies  of  those  whom  you  may  deprive  of  their  property. 

The  value  of  paper  currency  became  of  late  so  much 
depreciated  that  it  was  requisite,  under  the  powers 
vested  in  the  executive  during  the  recess  of  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly,  to  suspend  the  laws  by  which  it  was 
made  a  tender.  You  will  now  consider  whether  it 
may  not  be  proper  to  repeal  those  laws,  and  fix  some 
equitable  mode  for  the  discharge  of  debts  contracted 
whilst  paper  money  was  in  circulation. 

In  the  present  scarcity  of  specie  it  would  be  difficult, 
if  not  impracticable,  to  levy  a  tax  to  any  Considerable 
amount,  towards  sinking  the  public  debt,  nor  will  the 
creditors  of  the  State  expect  that  such  a  tax  should 
at  this  time  be  imposed;  but  it  is  just  and  reasonable 
that  all  unsettled  demands  should  be  liquidated,  and 
satisfactory  assurances  of  payment  given  to  the  pub 
lic  creditors. 

The  interest  and  honor,  the  safety  and  happiness  of 
our  country  depend  so  much  on  the  result  of  your  de 
liberations,  that  I  flatter  myself  you  will  proceed  in 
the  weighty  business  before  you  with  firmness  and 
temper,  with  vigor,  unanimity,  and  despatch. 


BOUDINOT.  195 

Boudinot  (bb'-di-not),  Elias,  a  noted  American  pa 
triot  and  philanthropist,  born  at  Philadelphia,  May  2,  1740  ; 
died  at  Burlington,  N.  J.,  Oct,  24,  1821.  He  was  an  active 
supporter  of  the  American  cause  during  the  Revolutionary 
period,  and  was  president  of  the  Continental  Congress  in 
1782.  For  ten  years  he  was  director  of  the  Mint,  and  he 
was  the  first  president  of  the  American  Bible  Society.  He 
was  a  liberal  benefactor  of  benevolent  and  literary  institu 
tions,  and  wrote  several  works  which  attracted  no  small  share 
of  attention  in  their  day.  He  also  won  popularity  as  a  public 
speaker  and  his  Oration  Before  the  Cincinnati  is  still  read. 


ORATION  BEFORE  THE  CINCINNATI. 

[This  oration  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Boudinot  at  Elizabeth  town, 
New  Jersey,  agreeably  to  a  resolution  of  the  State  Society  of  the 
Cincinnati,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1793.] 

GENTLEMEN,  BRETHREN,  AND  FELLOW  CITIZENS, — 
Having  devoutly  paid  the  sacrifice  of  prayer  and 
praise  to  that  Almighty  Being  by  whose  favor  and 
mercy  this  day  is  peculiarly  dedicated  to  the  commem 
oration  of  events  which  fill  our  minds  with  joy  and 
gladness,  it  becomes  me,  in  obedience  to  the  resolu 
tions  of  our  Society,  to  aim  at  a  further  improvement 
of  this  festival  by  leading  your  reflections  to  the  con 
templation  of  those  special  privileges  which  attend  the 
happy  and  important  situation  you  now  enjoy  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Is  there  any  necessity,  fellow  citizens,  to  spend  your 
time  in  attempting  to  convince  you  of  the  policy  and 
propriety  of  setting  apart  this  anniversary  for  the 
7- 


196  BOUDINOT. 

purpose  of  remembering  with  gratitude  the  unexam 
pled  event  of  our  political  salvation. 

The  cordial  testimony  you  have  borne  to  this  insti 
tution  for  seventeen  years  past  supersedes  the  neces 
sity  of  an  attempt  of  this  kind;  and,  indeed,  if  this 
had  been  the  first  instance  of  our  commemorating  the 
day,  the  practice  of  all  nations  and  of  all  ages  would 
have  given  a  sanction  to  the  measure. 

The  history  of  the  world,  as  wrell  sacred  as  profane, 
bears  witness  to  the  use  and  importance  of  setting 
apart  a  day  as  a  memorial  of  great  events,  whether 
of  a  religious  or  political  nature. 

No  sooner  had  the  great  Creator  of  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  finished  his  almighty  work  and  pro 
nounced  all  very  good,  but  he  set  apart  (not  an  anni 
versary,  or  one  day  in  a  year,  but)  one  day  in  seven 
for  the  commemoration  of  his  inimitable  power  in  pro 
ducing  all  things  out  of  nothing. 

The  deliverance  of  the  children  of  Israel  from  a 
state  of  bondage  to  an  unreasonable  tyrant  was  per 
petuated  by  the  eating  of  the  Paschal  Lamb  and  en 
joining  it  to  their  posterity  as  an  annual  festival  for 
ever,  with  a  "  remember  this  day,  in  which  ye  came 
out  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage." 

The  resurrection  of  the  Saviour  of  mankind  is  com 
memorated  by  keeping  the  first  day  of  the  week,  not 
only  as  a  certain  memorial  of  his  first  coming  in  a  state 
of  humiliation,  but  the  positive  evidence  of  his  future 
coming  in  glory. 

Let  us  then,  my  friends  and  fellow  citizens,  unite  all 
our  endeavors  this  day  to  remember,  with  reverential 
gratitude  to  our  supreme  Benefactor,  all  the  wonder- 


BOUDINOT.  197 

ful  things  he  has  done  for  us  in  a  miraculous  deliver 
ance  from  a  second  Egypt— another  house  of  bondage. 
"  And  thou  shalt  show  thy  son  on  this  day,  saying  this 
day  is  kept  as  a  day  of  joy  and  gladness,  because  of 
the  great  things  the  Lord  has  done  for  us,  when  we 
were  delivered  from  the  threatening  po\ver  of  an  in 
vading  foe.  And  it  shall  be  a  sign  unto  tliee,  upon 
thine  hand,  and  for  a  memorial  between  thine  eyes, 
that  the  law  of  the  Lord  may  be  in  thy  mouth,  for  with 
a  strong  hand  hast  thou  been  delivered  from  thine  ene 
mies  :  Thou  shalt  therefore  keep  this  ordinance  in 
its  season,  from  year  to  year,  forever. 

When  great  events  are  to  be  produced  in  this  our 
world,  great  exertions  generally  become  necessary; 
men  are  therefore  usually  raised  up,  with  talents  and 
powers  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  purposes  intended 
by  Providence,  who  often  by  their  disinterested  ser 
vices  and  extreme  sufferings  become  the  wonder  as 
well  as  the  examples  of  their  generation. 

The  obligations  of  mankind  to  these  worthy  char 
acters  increase  in  proportion  to  the  importance  of  the 
blessings  purchased  by  their  labors. 

It  is  not  then  an  unreasonable  expectation  which,  I 
well  know,  generally  prevails,  that  this  day  should  be 
usually  devoted  to  the  perpetuating  and  respectfully 
remembering  the  dignified  characters  of  those  great 
men  with  whom  it  has  been  our  honor  to  claim  the 
intimate  connection  of  fellow  citizens, — men  who 
have  purchased  our  present  joyful  circumstances  at 
the  invaluable  price  of  their  blood. 

But  you  must  also  acknowledge  with  me  that  this 
subject  has  been  so  fully  considered  and  so  ably 


IQ8  BOUDINOT. 

handled  by  those  eloquent  and  enlightened  men  who 
have  gone  before  me  in  this  honorable  path,  that  had 
their  superior  abilities  fallen  to  my  lot  I  could  do  but 
little  more  than  repeat  the  substance  of  their  obser 
vations  and  vary  their  language. 

Forgive  me,  ye  spirits  of  my  worthy,  departed  fel 
low  citizens! — patriots  of  the  first  magnitude,  whose 
integrity  no  subtle  arts  of  bribery  and  corruption  could 
successfully  assail ;  and  whose  fortitude  and  persever 
ance  no  difficulties  or  dangers  could  intimidate,  whose 
labors  and  sufferings  in  the  common  cause  of  our 
country ;  whose  exploits  in  the  field  and  wisdom  in  the 
cabinet,  I  have  often  been  witness  to  during  a  cruel 
and  distressing  war!  Forgive,  O  Warren,  Montgom 
ery!  and  all  the  nameless  heroes  of  your  illustrious 
group!  Forgive,  that  I  omit  on  the  present  occa 
sion  to  follow  the  steps  of  those  compatriots  who  have 
preceded  me,  but  had  rather  spend  this  sacred  hour  in 
contemplating  those  great  purposes  which  animated 
your  souls  in  the  severe  conflict,  and  for  which  you 
fought  and  bled! 

Were  you  present  to  direct  this  day's  meditations, 
would  you  not  point  to  your  scarred  limbs  and  bleed 
ing  breasts,  and  loudly  call  upon  us  to  reward  your 
toils  and  sufferings  by  forcibly  inculcating  and  improv 
ing  those  patriotic  principles  and  practices  which  led 
you  to  those  noble  achievements  that  secured  the 
blessings  we  now  enjoy? 

Yes,  ye  martyrs  to  liberty!  ye  band  of  heroes!  ye 
once  worthy  compatriots  and  fellow  citizens!  We 
will  obey  your  friendly  suggestion,  and  greatly  prize 
that  freedom  and  independence,  purchased  by  your 


BOUDINOT.  199 

united  exertions,  as  the  most  invaluable  gem  of  our 
earthly  crown ! 

The  late  revolution,  my  respected  audience,  in 
which  we  this  day  rejoice,  is  big  with  events  that  are 
daily  unfolding  themselves  and  pressing  in  thick  suc 
cession,  to  the  astonishment  of  a  wondering  world ! 

It  has  been  marked  with  the  certain  characteristics 
of  a  divine  overruling  hand,  in  that  it  was  brought 
about  and  perfected  against  all  human  reasoning,  and 
apparently  against  all  human  hope;  and  that  in  the 
very  moment  of  time  when  all  Europe  seemed  ready 
to  be  plunged  into  commotion  and  distress. 

Divine  Providence,  throughout  the  government  of 
this  world,  appears  to  have  impressed  many  great 
events  with  the  undoubted  evidence  of  his  own  al 
mighty  arm.  He  putteth  down  kingdoms  and  he  set- 
teth  up  whom  he  pleaseth,  and  it  has  been  literally 
verified  in  us  that  "  no  king  prevaileth  by  the  power  of 
his  own  strength." 

The  first  great  principle  established  and  secured  by 
our  revolution,  and  which  since  seems  to  be  pervad 
ing  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  which  should  be 
most  zealously  and  carefully  improved  and  gloried  in 
by  us,  is  the  rational  equality  and  rights  of  men  as 
men  and  citizens. 

I  do  not  mean  to  hold  up  the  absurd  idea  charged 
upon  us  by  the  enemies  of  this  valuable  principle,  and 
which  contains  in  it  inevitable  destruction  to  every 
government,  "  that  all  men  are  equal  as  to  acquired 
or  adventitious  rights."  Men  must  and  do  continu 
ally  differ  in  their  genius,  knowledge,  industry,  integ 
rity,  and  activity. 


200  BOUDINOT. 

Their  natural  and  moral  characters — their  virtues 
and  vices — their  abilities,  natural  and  acquired — to 
gether  with  favorable  opportunities  for  exertion,  will 
always  make  men  different  among  themselves,  and  of 
course  create  a  pre-eminency  and  superiority  one  over 
another.  But  the  equality  and  rights  of  men  here  con 
templated  are  natural,  essential,  and  inalienable,  such 
as  the  security  of  life,  liberty,  and  property.  These 
should  be  the  firm  foundation  of  every  good  govern 
ment,  as  they  will  apply  to  all  nations  at  all  times  and 
may  properly  be  called  a  universal  law.  It  is  apparent 
that  'every  man  is  born  with  the  same  right  to  im 
prove  the  talent  committed  to  him,  for  the  use  and 
benefit  of  society,  and  to  be  respected  accordingly. 

We  are  all  the  workmanship  of  the  same  divine 
hand.  With  our  Creator,  abstractly  considered,  there 
are  neither  kings  nor  subjects,  masters  nor  servants, 
otherwise  than  stewards  of  his  appointment,  to  serve 
each  other  according  to  our  different  opportunities 
and  abilities,  and  of  course  accountable  for  the  man 
ner  in  which  we  perform  our  duty.  He  is  no  respect 
er  of  persons;  he  beholds  all  with  an  equal  eye;  and, 
although  "  order  is  heaven's  first  law,"  and  he  has 
made  it  essential  to  every  good  government,  and  ne 
cessary  for  the  welfare  of  every  community,  that  there 
should  be  distinctions  among  members  of  the  same 
.society,  yet  this  difference  is  originally  designed  for 
the  service,  benefit,  and  best  good  of  the  wrhole,  and 
not  for  their  oppression  or  destruction. 

It  is  our  duty  then,  as  a  people,  acting  on  principles 
of  universal  application,  to  convince  mankind  of  the 
truth  and  practicability  of  them  by  carrying  them  into 


BOUDINOT.  201 

actual  exercise  for  the  happiness  of  our  fellow  men,, 
without  suffering  to  be  perverted  to  oppression  or  li 
centiousness. 

The  eyes  of  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  fast  open 
ing,  and  the  inhabitants  of  this  globe,  notwithstand 
ing  it  is  3,000  years  since  the  promulgation  of  that 
invaluable  precept,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself,"  are  but  just  beginning  to  discover  their 
brotherhood  to  each  other,  and  that  all  men,  however 
different  with  regard  to  nation  or  color,  have  an  es 
sential  interest  in  each  other's  welfare. 

Let  it  then  be  our  peculiar,  constant  care  and  vigi 
lant  attention  to  inculcate  this  sacred  principle,  and  to 
hand  it  down  to  posterity  improved  by  every  generous 
and  liberal  practice,  that  while  we  are  rejoicing  in 
our  own  political  and  religious  privileges  we  may 
with  pleasure  contemplate  the  happy  period  when  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  shall  join  in  the  triumph  of 
this  day,  and  one  universal  anthem  of  praise  shall 
arise  to  the  universal  Creator  in  return  for  the  general 
joy. 

Another  essential  ingredient  in  the  happiness  we 
enjoy  as  a  nation,  and  which  arises  from  the  princi 
ples  of  the  revolution,  is  the  right  that  every  people 
have  to  govern  themselves  in  such  manner  as  they 
judge  best  calculated  for  the  common  benefit. 

It  is  a  principle  interwoven  with  our  constitution, 
and  not  one  of  the  least  blessings  purchased  by  that 
glorious  struggle,  to  the  commemoration  of  which 
this  day  is  specially  devoted,  that  every  man  has  a 
natural  right  to  be  governed  by  laws  of  his  own  mak 
ing,  either  in  person  or  by  his  representative;  and 


2O2  BOUDINOT. 

that  no  authority  ought  justly  to  be  exercised  over 
him  that  is  not  derived  from  the  people,  of  whom  he 
is  one. 

This,  fellow  citizens,  is  a  most  important,  practical 
principle,  first  carried  into  complete  execution  by  the 
United  States  of  America. 

I  tremble  for  the  event,  while  I  glory  in  the  sub 
ject. 

To  you,  ye  citizens  of  America!  do  the  inhabitants 
of  the  earth  look  with  eager  attention  for  the  success 
of  a  measure  on  which  their  happiness  and  prosperity 
so  manifestly  depend. 

To  use  the  words  of  a  famous  foreigner,  "  You  are 
become  the  hope  of  human  nature  and  ought  to  be 
come  its  great  example.  The  asylum  opened  in  your 
land  for  the  oppressed  of  all  nations  must  console  the 
earth." 

On  your  virtue,  patriotism,  integrity,  and  submis 
sion  to  the  laws  of  your  own  making  and  the  govern 
ment  of  your  own  choice  do  the  hopes  of  men  rest 
with  prayers  and  supplications  for  a  happy  issue. 

Be  not,  therefore,  careless,  indolent,  or  inattentive 
in  the  exercise  of  any  right  of  citizenship.  Let  no 
duty,  however  small  or  seemingly  of  little  importance, 
be  neglected  by  you. 

Ever  keep  in  mind  that  it  is  parts  that  form  the 
whole,  and  fractions  constitute  the  unit.  Good  gov 
ernment  generally  begins  in  the  family,  and  if  the 
moral  character  of  a  people  once  degenerates  their 
political  character  must  soon  follow. 

A  friendly  consideration  of  our  fellow  citizens  who 
by  our  free  choice  become  the  public  servants  and 


BOUDINOT.  203 

manage  the  affairs  of  our  common  country  is  but  a 
reasonable  return  for  their  diligence  and  care  in  our 
service. 

The  most  enlightened  and  zealous  of  our  public 
servants  can  do  little  without  the  exertions  of  private 
citizens  to  perfect  what  they  do  but  form  as  it  were 
in  embryo.  The  highest  officers  of  our  government 
are  but  the  first  servants  of  the  people  and  always  in 
their  power:  they  have,  therefore,  a  just  claim  to  a 
fair  and  candid  experiment  of  the  plans  they  form 
and  the  laws  they  enact  for  the  public  weal.  Too 
much  should  not  be  expected  from  them;  they  are 
but  men  and  of  like  passions  and  of  like  infirmities 
with  ourselves;  they  are  liable  to  err,  though  exercis 
ing  the  purest  motives  and  best  abilities  required  for 
the  purpose. 

Times  and  circumstances  may  change  and  accidents 
intervene  to  disappoint  the  wisest  measures.  Mis 
taken  and  wicked  men  (who  cannot  live  but  in 
troubled  waters)  are  often  laboring  with  indefatig 
able  zeal,  which  sometimes  proves  but  too  successful, 
to  sour  our  minds,  and  derange  the  best-formed  sys 
tems.  Plausible  pretensions  and  censorious  insinua 
tions  are  always  at  hand  to  transfer  the  deadly  poison 
of  jealousy  by  which  the  best  citizens  may  for  a  time 
be  deceived. 

These  considerations  should  lead  to  an  attentive 
solicitude  to  keep  the  pure,  unadulterated  principles 
of  our  constitution  always  in  view;  to  be  religiously 
careful  in  our  choice  of  public  officers;  and  as  they 
are  again  in  our  power  at  very  short  periods  lend  not 
too  easily  a  patient  ear  to  every  invidious  insinuation 


2O4  BOUDINOT. 

or  improbable  story,  but  prudently  mark  the  effects 
of  their  public  measures  and  judge  of  the  tree  by 
its  fruits. 

I  do  not  wish  to  discourage  a  constant  and  lively 
attention  to  the  conduct  of  our  rulers.  A  prudent 
suspicion  of  public  measures  is  a  great  security  to  a 
republican  government;  but  a  line  should  be  drawn 
between  a  careful  and  critical  examination  into  the 
principles  and  effects  of  regular  systems  after  a  fair 
and  candid  trial,  and  a  captious,  discontented,  and 
censorious  temper,  which  leads  to  find  fault  with 
every  proposition  in  which  we  have  not  an  immediate 
hand,  and  raise  obstacles  to  rational  plans  of  govern 
ment  without  waiting  a  fair  experiment.  It  is 
generally  characteristic  of  this  disposition  to  find  fault 
without  proposing  a  better  plan  for  consideration. 

We  should  not  forget  that  our  country  is  large,  and 
our  fellow  citizens  of  different  manners,  interests  and 
habits;  that  our  laws,  to  be  right,  must  be  equal  and 
general.  Of  course  the  differing  interests  must  be 
combined,  and  brotherly  conciliation  and  forbearance 
continually  exercised,  if  we  will  judge  with  propriety 
of  those  measures  that  respect  a  nation  at  large. 

While  we  thus  enjoy  as  a  community  the  blessings 
of  the  social  compact  in  its  purity,  and  are  all  endeav 
oring  to  secure  the  invaluable  privileges  purchased 
by  the  blood  of  thousands  of  our  brethren  who  fell  in 
the  dreadful  conflict,  let  us  also  be  careful  to  encour 
age  and  promote  a  liberality  and  benevolence  of  mind 
toward  those  whom  they  have  left  behind,  and  whose 
unhappy  fate  it  has  been  to  bear  a  heavier  proportion 
of  the  expensive  purchase  in  the  loss  of  husbands, 


BOUDINOT.  205 

parents,  or  children,  perhaps  their  only  support  and 
hope  in  life. 

Mankind,  considered  as  brethren,  should  be  dear 
to  each  other;  but,  fellow  citizens,  who  have  together 
braved  the  common  danger, — who  have  fought  side 
by  side, — who  have  mingled  their  blood  together,  as 
it  were  in  one  rich  stream, — who  have  labored  and 
toiled  with  united  efforts  to  accomplish  the  same 
glorious  end,  must  surely  be  more  than  brethren — 
it  is  a  union  cemented  by  blood. 

I  can  no  longer  deny  myself  the  felicity,  my  be 
loved  friends  and  fellow  citizens,  members  of  a  So 
ciety  founded  on  these  humane  and  benevolent  prin 
ciples,  of  addressing  myself  more  particularly  to  you 
on  a  day  which  in  so  peculiar  a  manner  shines  with 
increasing  lustre  on  you,  refreshing  and  brightening 
your  hard-earned  laurels,  by  renewing  the  honorable 
reward  of  your  laborious  services  in  the  gratitude  of 
your  rejoicing  fellow  citizens. 

Methinks  I  behold  you  on  the  victorious  banks  of 
the  Hudson,  bowed  down  with  the  fatigues  of  an 
active  campaign  and  the  sufferings  of  an  inclement 
winter,  receiving  the  welcome  news  of  approaching 
peace  and  your  country's  political  salvation  with  all 
that  joy  of  heart  and  serenity  of  mind,  that  become 
citizens  who  flew  to  their  arms,  merely  at  their  coun 
try's  call,  in  a  time  of  common  danger. 

The  \var-worn  soldiers,  reduced  to  the  calamities 
of  a  seven  years'  arduous  service,  now  solemnly  pause 
and  reflect  on  the  peculiarity  of  their  critical  situa 
tion.  The  ravages  of  war  had  been  extended  through 
a  country  dearer  to  them  than  life,  and  thereby  pre- 


2O6  BOUDINOT. 

vented  that  ample  provision  in  service,  or  reasonable 
recompense  on  their  return  to  private  life,  that  prud 
ence  required  and  gratitude  powerfully  dictated. 

They  thought  that  the  distresses  of  the  army  had 
before  been  brought  to  a  point ;  "  that  they  had  borne 
all  that  men  could  bear;  their  property  expended; 
their  private  resources  at  an  end;  their  friends 
wearied  out  and  disgusted  with  incessant  applica 
tions."  But  another  trial,  severer  than  all,  still  awaits 
them;  they  are  now  to  be  disbanded  and  a  separation 
to  take  place  more  distressing  than  every  former 
scene !  Till  now  the  severe  conflict  was  unseen  or 
unattended  to.  Poverty  and  the  gratitude  of  their 
country  are  their  only  reward. 

True,  they  are  to  return  to  their  friends  and  fellow 
citizens  with  blessings  on  their  heads.  The  general 
liberty  and  independence  are  now  secured, — but  yet 
want  and  dire  distress  stare  many  in  the  face.  They 
are  to  return  to  wives  and  children,  long  used  to  de 
pendence  on  the  cold  hand  of  charity,  in  hopes  of  a 
sure  support  from  the  success  of  the  common  cause, 
when  their  husband,  father,  or  child  returned  glorious 
from  the  field  of  conquest.  Alas!  these  flattering 
hopes  now  are  no  more. 

Their  country's  exhausted  treasury  cannot  yield 
them  even  the  hard-earned  pittance  of  a  soldier's  pay. 
Being  urged  on  one  hand  by  the  subtle  poison  of  in 
flammatory,  violent,  and  artful  addresses  under  the 
specious  mask  of  pretended  friendship  (the  last  expir 
ing  effort  of  a  conquered  foe), — warned  on  the  other 
hand  by  the  experience,  wisdom,  and  rational  conduct 


BOUDINOT.  2O7 

of  their  beloved  commander,  their  father  and  long- 
tried  friend, — they  solemnly  deliberate. 

Some  guardian  angel,  perhaps  the  happy  genius  of 
America,  ever  attendant  on  the  object  of  her  care, 
raises  the  drooping  head,  wipes  the  indignant,  falling 
tear  from  the  hardy  soldier's  eye,  and  suggests  the 
happy  expedient ! 

Brotherly  affection  produces  brotherly  relief — the 
victorious  bands  unite  together — they  despise  the  in 
famous  idea — they  refuse  to  listen  to  the  siren's  song 
— they  form  the  social  tie — they  cast  in  the  remaining 
fragment  of  their  scanty  pay,  and  instead  of  seizing 
their  arms  and  demanding  their  rights  by  menace  and 
violence  they  refuse  "  to  lessen  the  dignity  or  sully 
the  glory  they  had  hitherto  maintained.  They  deter 
mined  to  give  one  more  proof  of  unexampled  patriot 
ism  and  patient  virtue,  rising  superior  to  the  pressure 
of  their  complicated  sufferings,  and  thereby  afford 
an  occasion  to  posterity  to  say,  had  that  day  been 
wanting,  the  world  had  not  seen  the  last  stage  of 
political  perfection  to  which  human  nature  is  capable 
of  attaining." 

The  glorious  certainty  of  peace,  purchased  by  their 
sufferings  and  perseverance,  now  rouses  the  patriotic 
fire.  They  again  rejoice  in  the  event;  they  unite  in  a 
firm,  indissoluble  bond,  "  gratefully  to  commemorate 
the  event  which  gave  independence  to  America, — to 
inculcate  to  latest  ages  the  duty  of  laying  down  in 
peace  arms  assumed  for  public  defence  in  war, — to 
continue  their  mutual  friendship,  which  commenced 
under  the  pressure  of  common  dangers,  and  to  ef 
fectuate  every  act  of  beneficence  dictated  by  a  spirit 


2O8  BOUDINOT. 

of  brotherly  kindness  to  any  of  their  number  and  their 
families  who  might  unfortunately  be  under  the  ne 
cessity  of  receiving  them;"  and  by  this  unanimous  act 
establish  this  sacred  truth,  "  that  the  glory  of  soldiers 
cannot  be  well  completed  without  acting  well  the  part 
of  citizens." 

This,  gentlemen,  is  your  origin  as  a  Society — the 
source  from  whence  you  sprang,  and  this  day  we  are 
carrying  on  the  work  first  begun  in  these  social  prin 
ciples. 

With  a  heart  filled  with  unfeigned  gratitude  to  the 
Author  of  all  our  mercies,  and  overflowing  with  the 
most  affectionate  friendship  toward  you,  suffer  me  to 
congratulate  you  on  this  seventeenth  anniversary  of 
our  happy  independence.  Long,  long,  even  to  the 
remotest  ages,  may  the  citizens  of  this  rising  empire 
enjoy  the  triumph  of  this  day;  may  they  never  forget 
the  invaluable  price  which  it  costs,  as  well  as  the 
great  purposes  for  which  it  was  instituted,  and  may 
a  frequent  recurrence  to  the  first  principles  of  our 
constitution  on  this  anniversary  be  a  constant  source 
of  security  and  permanence  to  the  rising  fabric !  May 
the  rights  of  man  and  the  purity  of  a  free,  energetic, 
and  independent  government  be  continually  cherished 
and  promoted  by  every  son  of  Cincinnatus !  May 
the  remembrance  of  those  worthy  heroes,  once  our 
beloved  companions,  whose  lives  they  did  not  hold 
dear  when  required  for  their  country's  safety,  ani 
mate  us  to  preserve  inviolate  what  they  purchased 
at  so  high  a  rate!  May  we,  by  the  uniform  conduct 
of  good  citizens  and  generous,  faithful  friends,  show 
ourselves  worthy  of  such  valuable  connections! 


EOUDINOT.  209 

Long,  long  may  you  live  to  enjoy  the  reward  of 
your  labors,  in  the  exercise  of  the  duties  of  this  hon 
orable  anniversary;  and  after  a  long  life  of  services  to 
your  country,  usefulness  <to  your  Society,  and  happi 
ness  to  yourselves,  may  you  leave  your  generation  in 
the  full  enjoyment  of  peace  and  a  sound  constitution, 
justified  by  experience,  for  the  example  of  which, 
nations  yet  unborn  shall  rise  up  and  call  you  blessed! 

And  now,  my  respected  audience,  we  appeal  to  your 
candor  and  generosity;  you  have  heard  our  origin — 
you  have  known  our  conduct — our  Society  is  design 
ed  for  the  happiness  and  benefit  of  mankind — we  have 
no  secrets — we  claim  no  separate  privileges — we  ask 
no  independent  immunities — we  are  embarked  in  one 
common  cause  with  you — we  glory  in  one  perfect  po 
litical  equality, — all  we  wish  for  is  the  pleasure  of  re 
newing  ancient  friendships,  of  the  mutual  remem 
brance  of  past  labors  and  sufferings,  the  liberal  exer 
cise  of  that  celestial  principle,  charity,  and  one  com 
mon  interest  with  you  in  the  security  of  our  liberty, 
property  and  independence. 

We  profess  to  be  a  band  of  brethren,  united  to  our 
fellow  citizens  by  every  tie  of  interest,  gratitude,  and 
love.  Let  us  then  go  hand  in  hand  with  you  in  look 
ing  forward  to  the  happy  state  of  our  country  during 
a  long  succession  of  ages  yet  to  come. 

We  are  encouraged  in  this  animating  hope  by  the 
numerous  advantages  arising  to  us,  in  a  peculiar  man 
ner,  from  the  happy  revolution  we  commemorate  this 
day;  they  are  conspicuous  in  every  quarter  to  which 
the  view  can  be  directed. 

If  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  strong  hope  of  every 


2IO  BOUDINOT. 

community,  the  rising  generation,  the  world  has  yet 
enjoyed  nothing  equal  to  their  advantages  and  future 
prospects. 

The  road  to  honors,  riches,  usefulness,  and  fame, 
in  this  happy  country,  is  open  equally  to  all.  The 
equality  of  citizens  in  its  true  sense  must  raise  the  most 
lively  hopes,  prompt  the  noblest  exertions,  and  secure 
a  certainty  of  success  to  all,  who  shall  excel  in  the 
service  of  their  country,  without  respect  of  persons. 

The  meanest  citizen  of  America  educates  his  belov 
ed  child  with  a  well-founded  hope  that  if  he  should 
become  equal  to  the  task  he  may  rationally  aspire  to 
the  command  of  our  armies,  a  place  in  the  cabinet,  or 
even  to  the  filling  of  the  presidential  chair;  he  stands 
on  equal  ground  in  regard  to  the  first  honors  of  the 
state  with  the  richest  of  his  fellow  citizens. 

The  child  of  the  poorest  laborer,  by  enjoying  the 
means  of  education  (afforded  in  almost  every  corner 
of  this  happy  land),  is  trained  up  for  and  is  encourag 
ed  to  look  forward  to  a  share  in  the  legislation  of  the 
Union  or  of  a  particular  State  with  as  much  confi 
dence  as  the  noblest  subject  of  an  established  mon 
archy. 

This  is  a  peculiar  happiness  of  our  highly  favored 
republic  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  proceeding 
from  the  successful  revolution  in  which  we  this  day 
rejoice. 

Suffer  me,  ye  fair  daughters  of  New  Jersey !  to  call 
on  you  also  in  a  special  manner  to  add  your  invigorat 
ing  smiles  to  the  mirth  and  festivity  of  this  day.  Our 
happiness  can  be  but  half  complete  if  you  refuse  to 
crown  the  whole  with  your  kind  approbation. 


BOUDINOT.  211 

Have  you  not  at  all  times  and  do  you  not  still  con 
tinue  to  participate  deeply  in  the  multiplied  blessings 
of  our  common  country  ?  Raised  from  the  humiliating 
state  of  your  sex  in  most  other  countries,  you  also 
breathe  the  sacred  air  of  freedom  and  nobly  unite 
your  exertions  for  the  general  good. 

The  rights  of  women  are  no  longer  strange  sounds 
to  an  American  ear;  they  are  now  heard  as  familiar 
terms  in  every  part  of  the  United  States ;  and  I  de 
voutly  hope  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  we 
shall  find  them  dignifying,  in  a  distinguishing  code, 
the  jurisprudence  of  the  several  States  in  the  Union. 

But  in  your  domestic  character  do  you  not  also  en 
joy  the  most  delightful  contemplations  arising  from 
the  Revolution  of  Seventeen  Hundred  and  Seventy- 
six? 

Can  you  look  on  the  children  of  your  tenderest  care, 
and  reflect  on  the  cheerful  prospects  opening  upon 
them  through  life,  without  feeling  the  most  lively 
emotions  of  gratitude  for  the  inestimable  privileges 
conferred  on  the  citizens  of  America?  Are  not  your 
resolutions  strengthened  and  your  endeavors  redou 
bled  to  furnish  them  with  every  qualification,  both 
mental  and  personal,  for  the  future  service  of  a  coun 
try  thus  rendered  dear  to  you? 

But  your  share  o'f  the  joy  of  this  day  does  not  rise 
from  a  single  source.  To  whom  are  we  more  indebt 
ed  for  the  origin  of  our  present  happiness  than  to 
your  delicate  and  discerning  sex  ?  In  vain  did  Colum 
bus,  our  great  founder  and  discoverer,  after  settling 
the  principles  of  his  sound  philosophy,  apply  to  the 
wise  men  of  his  country.  In  vain  did  he  solicit,  in 


212  BOUDINOT. 

strains  of  the  most  suppliant  humiliation,  the  dif 
ferent  thrones  of  Europe,  when  kings  considered 
themselves  as  God's  vicegerents  here  below;  despised 
by  the  ignorant — traduced  by  the  malevolent — con 
temned  by  the  great — laughed  at  by  pretended  phil 
osophers — and  trifled  with  by  the  arrogance  of  min 
isters  and  their  hirelings ;  all  his  hopes  and  those  of  a 
New  World  had,  at  last,  sunk  in  despair,  and  we,  this 
day,  might  have  mingled  our  fate  with  the  slaves  of 
the  Old  World,  had  not  the  penetrating  wisdom  and 
persevering  magnanimity  of  the  fair  but  undaunted 
Isabella,  the  ornament  of  your  sex,  and  the  jealousy 
of  ours,  saved  this  Western  World  from  the  oblivion 
of  more  than  five  thousand  years.  Did  she  employ  the 
excess  of  useless  treasures  in  this  happy  adventure? 
No ! — after  the  refusal  of  her  husband — despising  the 
appendages  of  brilliant  royalty  when  compared  with 
the  general  good  of  mankind,  her  enlarged  mind,  in 
capable  of  being  confined  by  the  shackles  of  the  age, 
found  a  resource  in  her  costly  jewels,  which  she  free 
ly  offered  as  a  pledge  to  accomplish  the  glorious  dis 
covery  of  the  fourth  quarter  of  the  globe  ! 

To  your  sex,  then,  ladies,  are  we  obliged  to  yield 
the  palm:  had  this  great  event  depended  altogether 
on  our  sex,  it  is  not  easy  to  guess  what  our  united 
fate  had  been  at  this  moment.  Instead  of  our  present 
agreeable  employment,  we  might  have  been  hewers 
of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  to  some  mighty  Pha 
raoh  whose  tender  mercies  would  have  been  cruelty. 
Your  right,  then,  my  fair  auditory,  to  a  large  portion 
of  the  general  joy,  must  be  acknowledged  to  be  of  a 
superior  kind. 


BOUDINOT.  213 

Do  you,  my  worthy  fellow  citizens  of  e,very  descrip 
tion,  wish  for  more  lasting  matter  of  pleasure  and  sat 
isfaction  in  contemplating  the  great  events  brought 
to  your  minds  this  day?  Extend,  then,  your  views  to 
a  distant  period  of  future  time.  Look  forward  a  few 
years,  and  behold  our  extended  forests  (now  a  path 
less  wilderness)  converted  into  fruitful  fields  and  busy 
towns.  Take  into  view  the  pleasing  shores  of  our 
immense  lakes,  united  to  the  Atlantic  States  by  a 
thousand  winding  canals,  and  beautified  with  rising 
cities,  crowded  with  innumerable  peaceful  fleets, 
transporting  the  rich  produce  from  one  coast  to  an 
other. 

Add  to  all  this,  what  must  most  please  every 
humane  and  benevolent  mind,  the  ample  provision 
thus  made  by  the  God  of  all  flesh  for  the  reception 
of  the  nations  of  the  earth  flying  from  the  tyranny 
and  oppression  of  the  despots  of  the  Old  World,  and 
say  if  the  prophecies  of  ancient  times  are  not  hasten 
ing  to  a  fulfilment,  when  this  wilderness  shall  blossom 
as  a  rose,  the  heathen  be  given  to  the  Great  Redeemer 
as  his  inheritance,  and  these  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth  for  his  possession. 

Who  knows  but  the  country  for  which  we  have 
fought  and  bled  may  hereafter  become  a  theatre  of 
greater  events  than  yet  have  been  known  to  mankind  ? 

May  these  invigorating  prospects  lead  us  to  the 
exercise  of  every  virtue,  religious,  moral,  and  polit 
ical.  May  we  be  roused  to  a  circumspect  conduct, — 
to  an  exact  obedience  to  the  laws  of  our  own  making, 
— to  the  preservation  of  the  spirit  and  principles  of 
our  truly  invaluable  constitution, — to  respect  and  at- 


214  BOUDINOT. 

tention  to  magistrates  of  our  own  choice;  and  finally, 
by  our  example  as  well  as  precept,  add  to  the  real 
happiness  of  our  fellow  men  and  the  particular  glory 
of  our  common  country. 

And  may  these  great  principles  in  the  end  become 
instrumental  in  bringing  about  that  happy  state  of 
the  world  when,  from  every  human  breast,  joined  by 
the  grand  chorus  of  the  skies,  shall  arise  with  the 
profoundest  reverence  that  divinely  celestial  anthem 
of  universal  praise, — "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest; 
peace  on  earth;  good  will  toward  men." 


WARREN.  215 

Warren,  Joseph,  a  famous  American  patriot  and  ora 
tor,  born  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  June  u,  1741  ;  died  at  Charles- 
town,  Mass.,  June  17,  1775.  He  began  the  practice  of  med 
icine  in  Boston  in  1762,  and  early  taking  an  interest  in 
political  affairs,  he  joined  a  secret  society  of  lovers  of  liberty. 
His  talents  as  an  orator  becoming  known,  he  was  chosen  to 
deliver  the  civic  oration  upon  the  occasion  of  the  second 
anniversary  of  The  Boston  Massacre,  in  1772.  In  1775  he 
was  again  chosen  to  deliver  the  oration  upon  the  same 
theme,  and  although  the  English  soldiery  had  threatened  the 
life  of  any  person  adventurous  enough  to  deliver  the  oration 
upon  that  anniversary,  Warren  was  undeterred  and  pro 
nounced  the  address  as  he  had  at  first  intended.  At  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  Warren  was  killed  while  fighting  as  a 
volunteer.  Less  fiery  and  impassioned  as  a  speaker  than 
Samuel  Adams  or  James  Otis,  he  was  not  without  abundant 
vigor,  and  he  held  listeners  in  the  deepest  attention. 


ORATION  ON  THE  BOSTON  MASSACRE. 

[Dr.  Warren  was  undaunted  by  the  threats  of  the  British  who 
had  vowed  to  take  the  life  of  any  one  daring  to  deliver  an  oration 
upon  the  anniversary  of  the  Boston  massacre.  Upon  March  6, 
1775,  the  Old  South  Church  being  rilled  to  overflowing,  Warren 
made  his  entrance  from  the  rear  of  the  building  through  the  pul 
pit  window,  and  unmoved  by  the  array  of  soldiers  and  officers  be 
fore  him  delivered  the  oration  with  a  firm  and  determined  pur 
pose.] 

MY    EVER-HONORED    FELLOW    ClTIZENS, It    IS    not 

without  the  most  humiliating"  conviction  of  my  want 
of  ability  that  I  now  appear  before  you :  but  the  sense 
I  have  of  the  obligation  I  am  under  to  obey  the  calls 
of  my  country  at  all  times,  together  with  an  animat- 


2l6  WARREN. 

ing  recollection  of  your  indulgence  exhibited  upon  so 
many  occasions,  has  induced  me  once  more,  undeserv 
ing  as  I  am,  to  throw  myself  upon  that  candor  which 
looks  with  kindness  on  the  feeblest  efforts  of  an 
honest  mind. 

You  will  not  now  expect  the  elegance,  the  learning, 
the  fire,  the  enrapturing  strains  of  eloquence,  which 
charmed  you  when  a  Lovell,  a  Church,  or  a  Hancock 
spake ;  but  you  will  permit  me  to  say  that  with  a  sin 
cerity  equal  to  theirs  I  mourn  over  my  bleeding  coun 
try.  With  them  I  weep  at  her  distress,  and  with  them 
deeply  resent  the  many  injuries  she  has  received 
from  the  hands  of  cruel  and  unreasonable  men. 

That  personal  freedom  is  the  natural  right  of  every 
man,  and  that  property,  or  an  exclusive  right  to  dis 
pose  of  what  he  has  honestly  acquired  by  his  own 
labor,  necessarily  arises  therefrom,  are  truths  Avhich 
common  sense  has  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  contra 
diction.  And  no  man  or  body  of  men  can,  without 
being  guilty  of  flagrant  injustice,  claim  a  right  to  dis 
pose  of  the  persons  or  acquisitions  of  any  other  man 
or  bocly  of  men  unless  it  can  be  proved  that  such  a 
right  has  arisen  from  some  compact  between  the 
parties  in  which  it  has  been  explicitly  and  freely 
granted. 

If  I  may  be  indulged  in  taking  a  retrospective  view 
of  the  first  settlement  of  our  country  it  will  be  easy 
to  determine  with  what  degree  of  justice  the  late 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  have  assumed  the  power 
of  giving  away  that  property  which  the  Americans 
have  earned  by  their  labor. 

Our  fathers,  having  nobly  resolved  never  to  wear 


WARREN.  217 

the  yoke  of  despotism,  and  seeing  the  European 
world,  at  that  time,  through  indolence  and  cowardice, 
falling  a  prey  to  tyranny,  bravely  threw  themselves 
upon  the  bosom  of  the  ocean,  determined  to  find  a 
place  in  which  they  might  enjoy  their  freedom  or 
perish  in  the  glorious  attempt.  Approving  heaven 
beheld  the  favored  ark  dancing  upon  the  waves,  and 
graciously  preserved  it  until  the  chosen  families  were 
brought  in  safety  to  these  western  regions.  They 
found  the  land  swarming  with  savages,  who  threat 
ened  death  with  every  kind  of  torture. 

But  savages,  and  death  with  torture,  were  far  less 
terrible  than  slavery.  Nothing  was  so  much  the  ob 
ject  of  their  abhorrence  as  a  tyrant's  power.  They 
knew  it  was  more  safe  to  dwell  with  man  in  his  most 
unpolished  state  than  in  a  country  where  arbitrary 
power  prevails.  Even  anarchy  itself,  that  bugbear 
held  up  by  the  tools  of  power  (though  truly  to  be 
deprecated),  is  infinitely  less  dangerous  to  mankind 
than  arbitrary  government.  Anarchy  can  be  but  of  a 
short  duration ;  for,  when  men  are  at  liberty  to  pursue 
that  course  which  is  more  conducive  to  their  own  hap 
piness,  they  will  soon  come  into  it;  and  from  the 
rudest  state  of  nature,  order  and  good  government 
must  soon  arise.  But  tyranny,  when  once  established, 
entails  its  curses  on  a  nation  to  the  latest  period  of 
time;  unless  some  daring  genius,  inspired  by  heaven, 
shall,  unappalled  by  danger,  bravely  foRn  and  exe 
cute  the  arduous  designs  of  restoring  liberty  and  life 
to  his  enslaved,  murdered  country. 

The  tools  of  power,  in  every  age,  have  racked  their 
inventions  to  justify  the  few  in  sporting  with  the  hap- 


218  WARREN. 

piness  of  the  many;  and,  having  found  their  sophistry 
too  weak  to  hold  mankind  in  bondage,  have  impiously 
dared  to  force  religion,  the  daughter  of  the  King  of 
Heaven,  to  become  a  prostitute  in  the  service  of  hell. 
They  taught  that  princes,  honored  with  the  name  of 
Christian,  might  bid  defiance  to  the  founder  of  their 
faith,  might  pillage  pagan  countries  and  deluge  them 
with  blood,  only  because  they  boasted  themselves  to 
be  the  disciples  of  that  Teacher  who  strictly  charged 
his  followers  to  do  to  others  as  they  would  that  others 
should  do  unto  them. 

This  country,  having  been  discovered  by  an  English 
subject  in  the  year  1620,  was  (according  to  the  sys 
tem  which  the  blind  superstition  of  those  times  sup 
ported)  deemed  the  property  of  the  Crown  of  Eng 
land.  Our  ancestors,  when  they  resolved  to  quit  their 
native  soil,  obtained  from  King  James  a  grant  of 
certain  lands  in  North  America.  This  they  probably 
did  to  silence  the  cavils  of  their  enemies,  for  it  cannot 
be  doubted  but  they  despised  the  pretended  right 
which  he  claimed  thereto.  Certain  it  is  that  he  might 
with  equal  propriety  and  justice  have  made  them  a 
grant  of  the  planet  Jupiter.  And  their  subsequent 
conduct  plainly  shows  that  they  were  too  well  ac 
quainted  with  humanity  and  the  principles  of  natural 
equity  to  suppose  that  the  grant  gave  them  any  right 
to  take  possession ;  they  therefore  entered  into  a  treaty 
with  the  natives  and  bought  from  them  the  lands. 
Nor  have  I  ever  yet  obtained  any  information  that 
our  ancestors  ever  pleaded,  or  that  the  natives  ever 
regarded  the  grant  from  the  English  Crown :  the  busi 
ness  was  transacted  by  the  parties  in  the  same  inde- 


WARREN.  219 

i 

pendent  manner  that  it  would  have  been  had  neither 
of  them  ever  known  or  heard  of  the  island  of  Great 
Britain. 

Having  become  the  honest  proprietors  of  the  soil, 
they  immediately  applied  themselves  to  the  cultiva 
tion  of  it ;  and  they  soon  beheld  the  virgin  earth  teem 
ing  with  richest  fruits,  a  grateful  recompense  for  their 
unwearied  toil.  The  fields  began  to  wave  with  ripen 
ing  harvests,  and  the  late  barren  wilderness  was  seen 
to  blossom  like  the  rose. 

The  savage  natives  saw  with  wronder  the  delight 
ful  change,  and  quickly  formed  a  scheme  to  obtain 
that  by  fraud  or  force,  which  nature  meant  as  the  re 
ward  of  industry  alone.  But  the  illustrious  emigrants 
soon  convinced  the  rude  invaders  that  they  were  not 
less  ready  to  take  the  field  for  battle  than  for  labor; 
and  the  insidious  foe  was  driven  from  their  borders 
as  often  as  he  ventured  to  disturb  them. 

The  Crown  of  England  looked  with  indifference 
on  the  contest;  our  ancestors  were  left  alone  to  com 
bat  with  the  natives.  Nor  is  there  any  reason  to 
believe  that  it  ever  was  intended  by  the  one  party,  or 
expected  by  the  other,  that  the  grantor  should  defend 
and  maintain  the  grantees  in  the  peaceable  possession 
of  the  lands  named  in  the  patents.  And  it  appears 
plainly  from  the  history  of  those  times  that  neither 
the  prince  nor  the  people  of  England  thought  them 
selves  much  interested  in  the  matter.  They  had  not 
then  any  idea  of  a  thousandth  part  of  those  advantages 
which  they  since  have,  and  we  are  most  heartily  will 
ing  they  should  still  continue  to  reap  from  us. 

But  when,  at  an  infinite  expense  of  toil  and  blood, 


22O  WARREN. 

this  widely  extended  continent  had  been  cultivated 
and  defended;  when  the  hardy  adventurers  justly  ex 
pected  that  they  and  their  descendants  should  peace 
ably  have  enjoyed  the  harvest  of  those  fields  which 
they  had  sown,  and  the  fruit  of  those  vineyards  which 
they  had  planted,  this  country  was  then  thought 
worthy  the  attention  of  the  British  ministry;  and  the 
only  justifiable  and  only  successful  means  of  render 
ing  the  colonies  serviceable  to  Britain  were  adopted. 
By  an  intercourse  of  friendly  offices  the  two  countries 
became  so  united  in  affection  that  they  thought  not  of 
any  distinct  or  separate  interests,  they  found  both 
countries  flourishing  and  happy. 

Britain  saw  her  commerce  extended  and  her  wealth 
increased;  her  lands  raised  to  an  immense  value;  her 
fleets  riding  triumphant  on  the  ocean;  the  terror  of 
her  arms  spreading  to  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 
The  colonist  found  himself  free  and  thought  himself 
secure :  he  dwelt  under  his  own  vine  and  under  his 
own  fig-tree  and  had  none  to  make  him  afraid.  He 
knew,  indeed,  that  by  purchasing  the  manufactures 
of  Great  Britain  he  contributed  to  its  greatness :  he 
knew  that  all  the  wealth  that  his  labor  produced  cen 
tred  in  Great  Britain. 

But  that,  far  from  exciting  his  envy,  filled  him  with 
the  highest  pleasure;  that  thought  supported  him  in 
all  his  toils.  When  the  business  of  the  clay  was  past, 
he  solaced  himself  with  the  contemplation,  or  perhaps 
entertained  his  listening  family  with  the  recital  of 
some  great,  some  glorious  transaction  which  shines 
conspicuous  in  the  history  of  Britain;  or,  perhaps,  his 
elevated  fancy  led  him  to  foretell,  with  a  kind  of  en- 


WARREN.  221 

thusiastic  confidence,  the  glory,  power,  and  duration 
of  an  empire  which  should  extend  from  one  end  of 
the  earth  to  the  other.  He  saw,  or  thought  he  saw, 
the  British  nation  risen  to  a  pitch  of  grandeur  which 
cast  a  veil  over  the  Roman  glory,  and,  ravished  with 
the  preview,  boasted  a  race  of  British  kings  whose 
names  should  echo  through  those  realms  where  Cyrus, 
Alexander,  and  the  Caesars  were  unknown;  princes 
for  whom  millions  of  grateful  subjects  redeemed  from 
slavery  and  pagan  ignorance,  should,  with  thankful 
tongues,  offer  up  their  prayers  and  praises  to  that 
transcendently  great  and  beneficent  Being,  "  by  whom 
kings  reign  and  princes  decree  justice." 

These  pleasing  connections  might  have  continued; 
these  delightsome  prospects  might  have  been  every 
day  extended;  and  even  the  reveries  of  the  most 
warm  imagination  might  have  been  realized,  but,  un 
happily  for  us,  unhappily  for  Britain,  the  madness  of 
an  avaricious  minister  of  state  has  drawn  a  sable  cur 
tain  over  the  charming  scene,  and  in  its  stead  has 
brought  upon  the  stage  discord,  envy,  hatred,  and 
revenge,  with  civil  war  close  in  their  rear. 

Some  demon,  in  an  evil  hour,  suggested  to  a  short 
sighted  financier  the  hateful  project  of  transferring 
the  whole  property  of  the  king's  subjects  in  America 
to  his  subjects  in  Britain.  The  claim  of  the  British 
Parliament  to  tax  the  colonies  can  never  be  supported 
but  by  such  a  transfer;  for  the  right  of  the  House  of 
Commons  of  Great  Britain  to  originate  any  tax  or 
grant  money  is  altogether  derived  from  their  being 
elected  by  the  people  of  Great  Britain  to  act  for  them  ; 
and  the  people  of  Great  Britain  cannot  confer  on 


222  WARREN. 

their  representatives  a  right  to  give  or  grant  anything" 
which  they  themselves  have  not  a  right  to  give  or 
grant  personally. 

Therefore  it  follows  that  if  the  members  chosen  by 
the  people  of  Great  Britain  to  represent  them  in  Par 
liament  have,  by  virtue  of  their  being  so  chosen,  any 
right  to  give  or  grant  American  property,  or  to  lay 
any  tax  upon  the  lands  or  persons  of  the  colonists,  it 
is  because  the  lands  ancl  people  in  the  colonies  are, 
bona  fide,  owned  by  and  justly  belonging  to  the  peo 
ple  of  Great  Britain.  But  (as  has  been  before  observ 
ed)  every  man  has  a  right  to  personal  freedom;  con 
sequently  a  right  to  enjoy  what  is  acquired  by  his  own 
labor.  And  it  is  evident  that  the  property  in  this  coun 
try  has  been  acquired  by  our  own  labor;  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  people  of  Great  Britain  to  produce  some  com 
pact  in  which  we  have  explicitly  given  up  to  them  a 
right  to  dispose  of  our  persons  or  property.  Until 
this  is  done,  every  attempt  of  theirs,  or  of  those  whom 
they  have  deputed  to  act  for  them,  to  give  or  grant 
any  part  of  our  property,  is  directly  repugnant  to  ev 
ery  principle  of  reason  and  natural  justice. 

But  I  may  boldly  say  that  such  a  compact  never  ex 
isted,  no,  not  even  in  imagination.  Nevertheless,  the 
representatives  of  a  nation  long  famed  for  justice  and 
the  exercise  of  every  noble  virtue  have  been  prevail 
ed  on  to  adopt  the  fatal  scheme;  and  although  the 
dreadful  consequences  of  this  wicked  policy  have  al 
ready  shaken  the  empire  to  its  centre,  yet  still  it  is 
persisted  in.  Regardless  of  the  voice  of  reason;  deaf 
to  the  prayers  and  supplications,  and  unaffected  with 
the  flowing  tears  of  suffering  millions,  the  British 


WARREN.  223 

ministry  still  hug  the  darling  idol;  and  every  rolling 
year  affords  fresh  instances  of  the  absurd  devotion 
with  which  they  worship  it.  Alas !  how  has  the  folly, 
the  distraction  of  the  British  councils  blasted  our 
swelling  hopes  and  spread  a  gloom  over  this  western 
hemisphere. 

The  hearts  of  Britons  and  Americans,  which  late 
ly  felt  the  generous  glow  of  mutual  confidence  and 
love,  now  burn  with  jealousy  and  rage.  Though  but 
of  yesterday,  I  recollect  (deeply  affected  at  the  ill- 
boding  change)  the  happy  hours  that  passed- whilst 
Britain  and  America  rejoiced  in  the  prosperity  and 
greatness  of  each  other.  Heaven  grant  those  halcyon 
days  may  soon  return !  But  now  the  Briton  too  often 
looks  on  the  American  with  an  envious  eye,  taught 
to  consider  his  just  plea  for  the  enjoyment  of  his 
earnings  as  the  effect  of  pride  and  stubborn  opposi 
tion  to  the  parent  country,  whilst  the  American  be 
holds  the  Briton  as  the  ruffian,  ready  first  to  take 
away  his  property,  and  next,  what  is  still  dearer  to  ev 
ery  virtuous  man,  the  liberty  of  his  country. 

When  the  measures  of  administration  had  disgusted 
the  colonies  to  the  highest  degree,  and  the  people  of 
Great  Britain  had,  by  artifice  and  falsehood,  been  ir 
ritated  against  America,  an  army  was  sent  over  to 
enforce  submission  to  certain  acts  of  the  British  Par 
liament  which  reason  scorned  to  countenance  and 
which  placemen  and  pensioners  were  found  unable  to 
support. 

Martial  law  and  the  government  of  a  well-regulated 
city  are  so  entirely  different  that  it  has  always  been 
considered  as  improper  to  quarter  troops  in  populous 


224  WARREN. 

cities;  frequent  disputes  must  necessarily  arise  be 
tween  the  citizen  and  the  soldier,  even  if  no  previous 
animosities  subsist.  And  it  is  further  certain,  from  a 
consideration  of  the  nature  of  mankind,  as  well  as 
from  constant  experience,  that  standing  armies  al 
ways  endanger  the  liberty  of  the  subject.  But  when 
the  people,  on  the  one  part,  considered  the  army  as 
sent  to  enslave  them,  and  the  army,  on  the  other, 
were  taught  to  look  on  the  people  as  in  a  state  of  re 
bellion,  it  was  but  just  to  fear  the  most  disagreeable 
consequences.  Our  fears,  we  have  seen,  were  but  too 
well  grounded. 

The  many  injuries  offered  to  the  town  I  pass  over 
in  silence.  I  cannot  now  mark  out  the  path  which  led 
to  that  unequalled  scene  of  horror,  the  sad  remem 
brance  of  which  takes  the  full  possession  of  my  soul. 
The  sanguinary  theatre  again  opens  itself  to  view. 
The  baleful  images  of  terror  crowd  around  me;  and 
discontented  ghosts,  with  hollow  groans,  appear  to  sol 
emnize  the  anniversary  of  the  fifth  of  March. 

Approach  we  then  the  melancholy. walk  of  death. 
Hither  let  me  call  the  gay  companion;  here  let  him 
drop  a  farewell  tear  upon  that  body  which  so  late  he 
saw  vigorous  and  warm  with  social  mirth;  hither  let 
me  lead  the  tender  mother  to  weep  over  her  beloved 
son — come,  widowed  mourner,  here  satiate  thy  grief; 
behold  thy  murdered  husband  gasping  -on  the  ground, 
and  to  complete  the  pompous  show  of  wretchedness, 
bring  in  each  hand  thy  infant  children  to  bewail  their 
father's  fate — take  heed,  ye  orphan  babes,  lest,  whilst 
your  streaming  eyes  are  fixed  upon  the  ghastly  corpse, 


WARREN.  225 

your  feet  slide  on  the  stones  bespattered  with  your 
father's  brains! 

Enough ;  this  tragedy  need  not  be  heightened  by  an 
infant  weltering  in  the  blood  of  him  that  gave  it  birth. 
Nature,  reluctant,  shrinks  already  from  the  view,  and 
the  chilled  blood  rolls  slowly  backward  to  its  foun 
tain.  We  wildly  stare  about,  and  with  amazement  ask 
who  spread  this  ruin  around  us?  What  wretch  has 
dared  deface  the  image  of  his  God?  Has  haughty 
France,  or  cruel  Spain,  sent  forth  her  myrmidons? 
Has  the  grim  savage  rushed  again  from  the  far  dis 
tant  wilderness;  or  does  some  fiend,  fierce  from  the 
depth  of  hell,  with  all  the  rancorous  malice  which  the 
apostate  damned  can  feel  twang  her  destructive  bow 
and  hurl  her  deadly  arrows  at  our  breast? 

No,  none  of  these — but,  how  astonishing!  it  is  the 
hand  of  Britain  that  inflicts  the  wound !  The  arms  of 
George,  our  rightful  king,  have  been  employed  to 
shed  that  blood,  when  justice,  or  the  honor  of  his 
crown,  had  called  his  subjects  to  the  field. 

But  pity,  grief,  astonishment,  with  all  the  softer 
movements  of  the  soul,  must  now  give  way  to  strong 
er  passions.  Say,  fellow  citizens,  what  dreadful 
thought  now  swells  your  heaving  bosoms;  you  fly  to 
arms — sharp  indignation  flashes  from  each  eye — je- 
venge  gnashes  her  iron  teeth — death  grins  a  hide 
ous  smile,  secure  to  drench  his  greedy  jaws  in  human 
'gore — whilst  hovering  furies  darken  all  the  air ! 

But  stop,  my  bold,  adventurous  countrymen;  stain 
not  your  weapons  with  the  blood  of  Britons.  Attend 
to  reason's  voice ;  humanity  puts  in  her  claim  and  sues 
to  be  again  admitted  to  her  wonted  seat,  the  bosom  of 


226  WARREN. 

the  brave.  Revenge  is  far  beneath  the  noble  mind. 
Many,  perhaps,  compelled  to  rank  among  the  vile  as 
sassins,  do  from  their  inmost  souls  detest  the  barbar 
ous  action.  The  winged  death,  shot  from  your  arms, 
may  chance  to  pierce  some  breast  that  bleeds  already 
for  your  injured  country. 

The  storm  subsides — a  solemn  pause  ensues — you 
spare — upon  condition  they  depart.  They  go — they 
quit  your  city — they  no  more  shall  give  offence.  Thus 
closes  the  important  drama. 

And  could  it  have  been  conceived  that  we  again 
should  have  seen  a  British  army  in  our  land,  sent  to 
enforce  obedience  to  acts  of  Parliament  destructive 
of  our  liberty?  But  the  royal  ear,  far  distant  from 
this  western  world,  has  been  assaulted  by  the  tongue 
of  slander;  and  villains,  traitorous  alike  to  king  and 
country,  have  prevailed  upon  a  gracious  prince  to 
clothe  his  countenance  with  wrath  and  to  erect  the 
hostile  banner  against  a  people  ever  affectionate  and 
loyal  to  him  and  his  illustrious  predecessors  of  the 
House  of  Hanover. 

Our  streets  are  again  filled  with  armed  men;  our 
harbor  is  crowded  with  ships  of  war ;  but  these  cannot 
intimidate  us;  our  liberty  must  be  preserved;  it  is 
far  dearer  than  life — we  hold  it  even  dear  as  our 
allegiance;  we  must  defend  it  against  the  attacks  of 
friends  as  well  as  enemies;  we  cannot  suffer  even 
Britons  to  ravish  it  from  us. 

No  longer  could  we  reflect,  with  generous  pride,  on 
the  heroic  actions  of  our  American  forefathers;  no 
longer  boast  our  origin  from  that  far-famed  island 
whose  warlike  sons  have  so  often  drawn  their  well- 


WARREN.  227 

tried  swords  to  save  her  from  the  ravages  of  tyranny; 
could  we,  but  for  a  moment,  entertain  the  thought  of 
giving  up  our  liberty.  The  man  who  meanly  will  sub 
mit  to  wear  a  shackle  contemns  the  noblest  gift  of 
heaven  and  impiously  affronts  the  God  that  made  him 
free. 

It  was  a  maxim  of  the  Roman  people,  which  emi 
nently  conduced  to  the  greatness  of  that  state,  never 
to  despair  of  the  commonwealth.  The  maxim  may 
prove  as  salutary  to  us  now  as  it  did  to  them.  Short 
sighted  mortals  see  not  the  numerous  links  of  small 
and  great  events  which  form  the  chain  on  which  the 
fate  of  kings  and  nations  is  suspended.  Ease  and 
prosperity,  though  pleasing  for  a  day,  have  often 
sunk  a  people  into  effeminacy  and  sloth.  Hardships 
and  dangers,  though  we  forever  strive  to  shun  them, 
have  frequently  called  forth  such  virtues  as  have  com 
manded  the  applause  and  reverence  of  an  admiring 
world=  Our  country  loudly  calls  you  to  be  circum 
spect,  vigilant,  active,  and  brave. 

Perhaps  (all  gracious  heaven  avert  it),  perhaps 
the  power  of  Britain,  a  nation  great  in  war,  by  some 
malignant  influence  may  be  employed  to  enslave  you ; 
but  let  not  even  this  discourage  you.  Her  arms,  'tis 
true,  have  filled  the  world  with  terror ;  her  troops  have 
reaped  the  laurels  of  the  field;  her  fleets  have  rode 
triumphant  on  the  sea;  and  when  or  where  did  you, 
my  countrymen,  depart  inglorious  from  the  field  of 
fight?  You,  too,  can  show  the  trophies  of  your  fore 
fathers'  victories  and  your  own;  can  name  the  for 
tresses  and  battles  you  have  won;  and  many  of  you 


228  WARREN. 

count  the  honorable  scars  of  wounds  received  whilst 
fighting  for  your  king  and  country. 

Where  justice  is  the  standard,  heaven  is  the  war 
rior's  shield:  but  conscious  guilt  unnerves  the  arm 
that  lifts  the  sword  against  the  innocent.  Britain, 
united  with  these  colonies  by  commerce  and  affection, 
by  interest  and  blood,  may  mock  the  threats  of  France 
and  Spain;  may  be  the  seat  of  universal  empire.  But 
should  America,  either  by  force  or  those  more  dan 
gerous  engines,  luxury  and  corruption,  ever  be 
brought  into  a  state  of  vassalage,  Britain  must  lose 
her  freedom  also.  No  longer  shall  she  sit  the 
empress  of  the  sea;  her  ships  no  more  shall  waft  her 
thunders  over  the  wide  ocean;  the  wreath  shall 
•wither  on  her  temples;  her  weakened  arm  shall  be 
unable  to  defend  her  coasts;  and  she  at  last  must  bow 
her  venerable  head  to  some  proud  foreigner's  despotic 
rule. 

But  if,  from  past  events,  we  may  venture  to  form 
a  judgment  of  the  future,  we  justly  may  expect  that 
the  devices  of  our  enemies  will  but  increase  the 
triumphs  of  our  country.  I  must  indulge  a  hope  that 
Britain's  liberty,  as  well  as  ours,  will  eventually  be 
preserved  by  the  virtue  of  America. 

The  attempt  of  the  British  Parliament  to  raise  a 
revenue  from  America,  and  our  denial  of  their  right 
to  do  it,  have  excited  an  almost  universal  inquiry  into 
the  right  of  mankind  in  general,  and  of  British  sub 
jects  in  particular;  the  necessary  result  of  which  must 
be  such  a  liberality  of  sentiment  and  such  a  jealousy 
of  those  in  power  as  will,  better  than  an  adamantine 


WARREN.  229 

wall,  secure  us  against  the  future  approaches  of  des 
potism. 

The  malice  of  the  Boston  port-bill  has  been  de 
feated,  in  a  very  considerable  degree,  by  giving  you 
an  opportunity  of  deserving,  and  our  brethren  in  this 
and  our  sister  colonies  an  opportunity  of  bestowing 
those  benefactions  which  have  delighted  your  friends 
and  astonished  your  enemies,  not  only  in  America, 
but  in  Europe  also.  And  what  is  more  valuable  still, 
the  sympathetic  feelings  for  a  brother  in  distress,  and 
the  grateful  emotions  excited  in  the  breast  of  him 
who  finds  relief,  must  forever  endear  each  to  the 
other  and  form  those  indissoluble  bonds  of  friendship 
and  affection  on  which  the  preservation  of  our  rights 
so  evidently  depend. 

The  mutilation  of  our  charter  has  made  every  other 
colony  jealous  for  its  own;  for  this,  if  once  submitted 
to  by  us,  would  set  on  float  the  property  and  govern 
ment  of  every  British  settlement  upon  the  continent. 
If  charters  are  not  deemed  sacred,  how  miserably  pre 
carious  is  everything  founded  upon  them ! 

Even  the  sending  troops  to  put  these  acts  in  execu 
tion  is  not  without  advantage  to  us.  The  exactness 
and  beauty  of  their  discipline  inspire  our  youth  with 
ardor  in  the  pursuit  of  military  knowledge.  Charles 
the  Invincible  taught  Peter  the  Great  the  art  of  war. 
The  battle  of  Pultowa  convinced  Charles  of  the  pro 
ficiency  Peter  had  made. 

Our  country  is  in  danger,  but  not  to  be  despaired 
of.  Our  enemies  are  numerous  and  powerful ;  but  we 
have  many  friends  determining  to  be  free,  and  heaven 
and  earth  will  aid  the  resolution.  On  you  depend  the 


230  WARREN. 

fortunes  of  America.  You  are  to  decide  the  impor 
tant  question  on  which  rest  the  happiness  and  liberty 
of  millions  yet  unborn.  '  Act  worthy  of  yourselves. 
The  faltering  tongue  of  hoary  age  calls  on  you  to 
support  your  country.  The  lisping  infant  raises  its 
suppliant  hands  imploring  defence  against  the  mon 
ster  slavery.  Your  fathers  look  from  their  celestial 
seats  with  smiling  approbation  on  their  sons,  who 
boldly  stand  forth  in  the  cause  of  virtue;  but  sternly 
frown  upon  the  inhuman  miscreant  who,  to  secure  the 
loaves  and  fishes  to  himself,  would  breed  a  serpent 
to  destroy  his  children. 

But,  pardon  me,  my  fellow  citizens,  I  know  you 
want  not  zeal  or  fortitude.  You  will  maintain  your 
rights  or  perish  in  the  generous  struggle.  However 
difficult  the  combat,  you  never  will  decline  it  when 
freedom  is  the  prize.  An  independence  of  Great 
Britain  is  not  our  aim.  No,  our  wish  is  that  Britain 
and  the  colonies  may,  like  the  oak  and  ivy,  grow  and 
increase  in  strength  together.  But  whilst  the  in 
fatuated  plan  of  making  one  part  of  the  empire  slaves 
to  the  other  is  persisted  in,  the  interests  and  safety 
of  Britain,  as  well  as  the  colonies,  require  that  the 
wise  measures  recommended  by  the  honorable  the 
Continental  Congress  be  steadily  pursued;  whereby 
the  unnatural  contest  between  a  parent  honored  and 
a  child  beloved  may  probably  be  brought  to  such  an 
issue  as  that  the  peace  and  happiness  of  both  may  be 
established  upon  a  lasting  basis.  But  if  these  pacific 
measures  are  ineffectual,  and  it  appears  that  the  only 
way  to  safety  is  through  fields  of  blood,  I  know  you 
will  not  turn  your  faces  from  your  foes,  but  will, 


WARREN.  231 

undauntedly,  press  forward  until  tyranny  is  trodden 
under  foot,  and  you  have  fixed  your  adored  goddess, 
Liberty,  fast  by  a  Brunswick's  side,  on  the  American 
throne. 

You  then,  who  have  nobly  espoused  your  country's 
cause;  who  generously  have  sacrificed  wealth  and 
ease;  who  have  despised  the  pomp  and  show  of  tin 
selled  greatness;  refused  the  summons  to  the  festive 
board;  been  deaf  to  the  alluring  calls  of  luxury  and 
mirth;  who  have  forsaken  the  downy  pillow  to  keep 
your  vigils  by  the  midnight  lamp  for  the  salvation  of 
your  invaded  country,  that  you  might  break  the 
fowler's  snare  and  disappoint  the  vulture  of  his  prey — 
you  then  will  reap  that  harvest  of  renown  which  you 
so  justly  have  deserved.  Your  country  shall  pay  her 
grateful  tribute  of  applause.  Even  the  children  of 
your  most  inveterate  enemies,  ashamed  to  tell  from 
whom  they  sprang,  while  they,  in  secret,  curse  their 
stupid,  cruel  parents,  shall  join  the  general  voice  of 
gratitude  to  those  who  broke  the  fetters  which  their 
fathers  forged. 

Having  redeemed  your  country,  and  secured  the 
blessing  to  future  generations,  who,  fired  by  your 
example,  shall  emulate  your  virtues  and  learn  from 
you  the  heavenly  art  of  making  millions  happy;  with 
heartfelt  joy,  with  transports  all  your  own,  you  cry, 
the  glorious  work  is  done;  then  drop  the  mantle  to 
some  young  Elisha,  and  take  your  seats  with  kindred 
spirits  in  your  native  skies ! 


232  JEFFERSON. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  a  distinguished  statesman,  third 
President  of  the  United  States,  born  at  Shadwell,  Va., 
April  2,  1743  ;  died  at  Monticello,  Va.,  July  4,  1826.  He 
-was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  and  began 
public  life  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  in 
1769.  He  was  a  zealous  actor  in  the  events  preluding  the 
American  Revolution,  and  as  one  of  the  committee  of  five 
appointed  to  draw  up  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  was 
in  the  main  the  author  of  that  famous  paper.  In  1779, 
Jefferson  was  chosen  governor  of  Virginia  ;  in  1.784  he  was 
sent  to  France  with  Franklin  and  Deane,  as  joint  plenipo 
tentiary,  and  returning  in  1789  was  appointed  Washington's 
secretary  of  state.  He  was  Vice-President  during  the  admin 
istration  of  John  Adams,  and  succeeding  him  as  President, 
held  office  for  two  terms.  Of  all  his  many  state  papers,  the 
Declaration  is  destined  to  endure  the  longest.  Like  all  of 
Jefferson's  writing,  it  is  grandiose  at  times,  but  like  them, 
too,  it  is  clear,  forceful,  and  perfectly  adapted  to  serve  the 
immediate  purposes  for  which  it  was  composed, 


DEMOCRACY  DEFINED. 

FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS,  DELIVERED  MARCH  4,   l8oi. 

Friends  and  Fellow-Citizens  : 

CALLED  upon  to  undertake  the  duties  of  the  first 
executive  office  of  our  country,  I  avail  myself  of  the 
presence  of  that  portion  of  my  fellow-citizens  which 
is  here  assembled,  to  express  my  grateful  thanks  for 
the  favor  which  they  have  been  pleased  to  look  to 
ward  me,  to  declare  a  sincere  consciousness  that  the 
task  is  above  my  talents,  and  that  I  approach  it  with 
those  anxious  and  awful  presentiments  which  the 


JEFFERSON.  233 

greatness  of  the  charge  and  the  weakness  of  my  pow 
ers  so  justly  inspire.  A  rising  nation  spread  over  a 
wide  and  fruitful  land,  traversing  all  the  seas  with 
the  rich  productions  of  their  industry,  engaged  in  com 
merce  with  nations  who  feel  power  and  forget  right, 
advancing  rapidly  to  destinies  beyond  the  reach  of 
mortal  eye;  when  I  contemplate  these  transcendent 
objects,  and  see  the  hour,  the  happiness,  and  the  hopes 
of  this  beloved  country  committed  to  the  issue  and  the 
auspices  of  this  day,  I  shrink  from  the  contemplation, 
and  humble  myself  before  the  magnitude  of  the  under 
taking.  Utterly,  indeed,  should  I  despair,  did  not  the 
presence  of  many  whom  I  here  see  remind  me  that  in 
the  other  high  authorities  provided  by  our  Constitution 
I  shall  find  resources  of  wisdom,  of  virtue  and  of  zeal 
on  which  to  rely  under  all  difficulties.  To  you,  then, 
gentlemen,  who  are  charged  with  the  sovereign  func 
tions  of  legislation,  and  to  those  associated  with  you, 
I  look  with  encouragement  for  that  guidance  and  sup 
port  which  may  enable  us  to  steer  with  safety  the  ves 
sel  in  which  we  are  all  embarked,  amid  the  conflict- 
iiag  elements  of  a  troubled  world. 

During  the  contest  of  opinion  through  which  we 
have  passed,  the  animation  of  discussions  and  of  ex 
ertions  has  sometimes  worn  an  aspect  which  might  im 
pose  on  strangers  unused  to  think  freely  and  to  speak 
and  to  write  what  they  think;  but  this  being  now  de 
cided  by  the  voice  of  the  nation,  announced  accord 
ing  to  the  rules  of  the  Constitution,  all  will,  of  course, 
arrange  themselves  under  the  will  of  the  law,  and 
unite  in  common  efforts  for  the  common  good.  All, 
too,  will  bear  in  mind  this  sacred  principle,  that 


234  JEFFERSON. 

though  the  will  of  the  majority  is  in  all  cases  to  pre 
vail,  that  will,  to  be  rightful,  must  be  reasonable ;  that 
the  minority  possess  their  equal  rights,  which  equal 
law  must  protect,  and  to  violate  would  be  oppression. 
Let  us,  then,  fellow-citizens,  unite  with  one  heart  and 
one  mind ;  let  us  restore  to  social  intercourse  that  har 
mony  and  affection  without  which  liberty,  and  even 
life  itself,  are  but  dreary  things.  And  let  us  reflect, 
that,  having  banished  from  our  land  that  religious  in 
tolerance  under  which  mankind  so  long  bled  and  suf 
fered,  we  have  yet  gained  little,  if  we  countenance  a 
political  intolerance  as  despotic,  as  wicked,  and  capa 
ble  of  as  bitter  and  bloody  persecutions.  During  the 
throes  and  convulsions  of  the  ancient  world,  during  the 
agonizing  spasms  of  infuriated  man,  seeking  through 
blood  and  slaughter  his  long-lost  liberty,  it  \vas  not 
wonderful  that  the  agitation  of  the  billows  should 
reach  even  this  distant  and  peaceful  shore;  that  this 
should  be  more  felt  and  feared  by  some  and  less  by 
others;  and  should  divide  opinions  as  to  measures  of 
safety;  but  every  difference  of  opinion  is  not  a  differ 
ence  of  principle.  We  have  called  by  different  names 
brethren  of  the  same  principle.  We  are  all  Republicans  : 
we  are  all  Federalists.  If  there  be  any  among  us  who 
would  wish  to  dissolve  this  Union,  or  to  change  its 
republican  form,  let  them  stand  undisturbed  as  monu 
ments  of  the  safety  with  which  error  of  opinion  may  be 
tolerated,  where  reason  is  left  free  to  combat  it.  I 
know,  indeed,  that  some  honest  men  fear  that  a  re 
publican  government  cannot  be  strong;  that  this  gov 
ernment  is  not  strong  enough.  But  would  the  honest 
patriot,  in  the  full  tide  of  successful  experiment, 


. 

JEFFERSON.  235 

abandon  a  government  which  has  so  far  kept  us  free 
and  firm,  on  the  theoretic  and  visionary  fear  that  this 
government,  the  world's  best  hope,  may,  by  possibility, 
want  energy  to  preserve  itself  ?  I  trust  not.  I  believe 
this,  on  the  contrary,  the  strongest  government  on 
earth.  I  believe  it  the  only  one  where  every  man,  at 
the  call  of  the  law,  would  fly  to  the  standard  of 
the  law,  and  would  meet  invasions  of  the  public  order 
as  his  own  personal  concern.  Sometimes  it  is  said 
that  man  cannot  be  trusted  with  the  government  of 
himself.  Can  he,  then,  be  trusted  with  the  government  of 
others?  Or  have  we  found  angels  in  the  form  of 
kings  to  govern  him?  Let  history  answer  this  ques 
tion. 

Let  us,  then,  with  courage  and  confidence,  pursue 
our  own  federal  and  republican  principles ;  our  attach 
ment  to  union  and  representative  government.  Kind 
ly  separated  by  nature  and  a  wide  ocean  from  the  ex 
terminating  havoc  of  one  quarter  of  the  globe;  too 
high-minded  to  endure  the  degradations  of  the  others ; 
possessing  a  chosen  country,  with  room  enough  for 
our  descendants  to  the  hundredth  and  thousandth  gen 
eration  ;  entertaining  a  due  sense  of  our  equal  right  to 
the  use  of  our  own  faculties,  to  the  acquisitions  of  our 
own  industry,  to  honor  and  confidence  from  our  fellow 
citizens,  resulting  not  from  birth,  but  from  our  ac 
tions  and  their  sense  of  them;  enlightened  by  a  be 
nign  religion,  professed  indeed,  and  practiced  in  vari 
ous  forms,  yet  all  of  them  inculcating  honesty,  truth, 
temperance,  gratitude,  and  the  love  of  man,  acknowl 
edging  and  adoring  an  overruling  Providence,  which, 
by  all  its  dispensations,  proves  that  it  delights  in  the 


236  JEFFERSON. 

happiness  of  man  here  and  his  greater  happiness  here 
after  ;  with  all  these  blessings,  what  more  is  necessary 
to  make  us  a  happy  and  a  prosperous  people?  Still 
one  thing  more,  fellow-citizens — a  wise  and  frugal 
government,  which  shall  restrain  men  from  injuring 
one  another,  shall  leave  them  otherwise  free  to  regu 
late  their  own  pursuits  of  industry  and  improvement, 
and  shall  not  take  from  the  mouth  of  labor  the  bread 
it  has  earned.  This  is  the  sum  of  good  government; 
and  this  is  necessary  to  close  the  circle  of  our  felici 
ties. 

About  to  enter,  fellow-citizens,  on  the  exercise  of 
duties  which  comprehend  everything  dear  and  valuable 
to  you,  it  is  proper  you  should  understand  what  I  deem 
the  essential  principles  of  our  government,  and  con 
sequently  those  which  ought  to  shape  its  administra 
tion.  I  will  compress  them  within  the  narrowest  com 
pass  they  will  bear,  stating  the  general  principle,  but 
not  all  its  limitations.  Equal  and  exact  justice  to  all 
men,  of  whatever  state  or  persuasion,  religious  or  po 
litical;  peace,  commerce,  and  honest  friendship  with 
all  nations,  entangling  alliances  with  none;  the  sup 
port  of  the  State  governments  in  all  their  rights,  as  the 
most  competent  administrations  for  our  domestic  con 
cerns,  and  the  surest  bulwarks  against  anti-republican 
tendencies;  the  preservation  of  the  general  govern 
ment  in  its  whole  constitutional  vigor,  as  the  sheet- 
anchor  of  our  peace  at  horrie  and  safety  abroad;  a 
jealous  care  of  the  right  of  election  by  the  people;  a 
mild  and  safe  corrective  of  abuses  which  are  lopped 
fay  the  sword  of  revolution,  where  peaceable  remedies 
.are  unprovided ;  absolute  acquiescence  in  the  decisions 


JEFFERSON.  237 

of  the  majority,  the  vital  principle  of  republics,  from 
which  is  no  appeal,  but  to  force  the  vital  principle 
and  immediate  parent  of  despotism;  a  well-disciplin 
ed  militia,  our  best  reliance  in  peace  and  for  the  first 
moments  of  war,  till  regulars  may  relieve  them;  the 
supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  military  authority; 
economy  in  the  public  expense,  that  labor  may  be 
lightly  burdened;  the  honest  payment  of  our  debts, 
and  sacred  preservation  of  the  public  faith;  encour 
agement  of  agriculture,  and  of  commerce  as  its  hand 
maid  ;  the  diffusion  of  information  and  arraignment  of 
all  abuses  at  the  bar  of  the  public  reason ;  freedom  of 
religion,  freedom  of  the  press,  and  freedom  of  person, 
nuder  the  protection  of  the  Habeas  Corpus ;  and  trial 
by  juries  impartially  selected.  These  principles  form 
the  bright  constellation  which  has  gone  before  us,  and 
guided  our  steps  through  an  age  of  revolution  and 
reformation.  The  wisdom  of  our  sages  and  blood  of 
our  heroes  have  been  devoted  to  their  attainment; 
they  should  be  the  creed  of  our  political  faith  :  the  text 
of  civic  instruction ;  the  touchstone  by  which  to  try  the 
services  of  those  we  trust ;  and  should  wre  wander  from 
them  in  moments  of  error  or  of  alarm,  let  us  hasten 
to  retrace  our  steps  and  to  regain  the  road  which 
alone  leads  to  peace,  liberty,  and  safety. 

I  repair  then,  fellowT-citizens,  to  the  post  you  have 
assigned  me.  With  experience  enough  in  subordinate 
offices  to  have  seen  the  difficulties  of  this,  the  greatest 
of  all,  I  have  learned  to  expect  that  it  will  rarely  fall 
to  the  lot  of  imperfect  man  to  retire  from  this  station 
with  the  reputation  and  the  favor  which  bring  him 
into  it.  Without  pretensions  to  that  high  confidence 


238  JEFFERSON. 

you  reposed  in  our  first  and  greatest  revolutionary 
character,  whose  pre-eminent  services  had  entitled 
him  to  the  first  place  in  his  country's  love,  and  des 
tined  for  him  the  fairest  page  in  the  volume  of  faith 
ful  history,  I  ask  so  much  confidence  only  as  may 
give  firmness  and  effect  to  the  legal  administration  of 
your  affairs.  I  shall  often  go  wrong  through  defect 
of  judgment.  When  right,  I  shall  often  be  thought 
wrong  by  those  whose  positions  will  not  command  a 
view  of  the  whole  ground.  I  ask  your  indulgence  for 
my  own  errors,  which  will  never  be  intentional;  and 
your  support  against  the  errors  of  others,  who  may 
condemn  what  they  would  not,  if  seen  in  all  its  parts. 
The  approbation  implied  by  your  suffrage  is  a  great 
consolation  to  me  for  the  past;  and  my  future  solici 
tude  will  be  to  retain  the  good  opinion  of  those  who 
have  bestowed  it  in  advance,  to  conciliate  that  of 
others  by  doing  them  all  the  good  in  my  power,  and 
to  be  instrumental  to  the  happiness  and  freedom  of 
all. 

Relying,  then,  on  the  patronage  of  your  goodwill,  I 
advance  with  obedience  to  the  work,  ready  to  retire 
from  it  whenever  you  become  sensible  how  much 
better  choices  it  is  in  your  power  to  make.  And  may 
that  Infinite  Power  which  rules  the  destinies  of  the 
universe  lead  our  councils  to  what  is  best,  and  give 
them  a  favorable  issue  for  your  peace  and  prosperity. 


QUINCY.  239 

Quincy,  Josiah,  (sometimes  styled  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.), 
an  American  patriot  and  orator,  born  in  Boston,  Mass., 
Jan.,  23,  1744,  died  there,  April  26,  1775.  He  was  a  Boston, 
lawyer  who  was  associated  with  John  Adams  in  defending 
the  English  soldiers  concerned  in  "  The  Boston  Massacre," 
but  he  attended  the  town  meeting  which  ordered  the  "  Bos 
ton  tea-party,"  and  in  September,  1774,  went  to  England  to 
speak  in  behalf  of  the  colonists.  His  style  as  an  orator  is 
rather  intense  and  grandiose,  but  it  has  the  dignity  of  entire 
sincerity.  His  "  Observations  on  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  with 
Thoughts  on  Civil  Society  and  Standing  Armies,"  had  not 
a  little  to  do  with  shaping  contemporary  thought. 


SPEECH  IN  DEFENCE  OF  THE  SOLDIERS. 

[Delivered  at  the  trial  of  William  Weems,  James  Hartigan,  and 
others,  soldiers  in  his  Majesty's  Twenty-Ninth  Regiment,  for  the 
murder  of  Crispus  Attucks,  Samuel  Gray,  and  others,  on  Monday 
evening,  the  5th  of  March,  1770.] 

MAY  IT  PLEASE  YOUR  HONORS,,  AND  You  GENTLE 
MEN  OF  THE  JURY, — We  have  at  length  gone  through 
the  evidence  in  behalf  of  the  prisoners.  The  wit 
nesses  have  now  placed  before  you  that  state  of  facts 
from  which  results  our  defence.  The  examination 
has  been  so  lengthy  that  I  am  afraid  some  gainful 
sensations  arise  when  you  find  that  you  are  now  to 
sit  and  hear  the  remarks  of  counsel.  But  you  should 
reflect  that  no  more  indulgence  is  shown  to  the  prison 
ers  now  on  trial  than  has  ever  been  shown  in  all  cap 
ital  causes :  the  trial  of  one  man  has  often  taken  up 
several  days ;  when  you  consider,  therefore,  that  there 
are  eight  lives  in  issue,  the  importance  of  the  trial  will 


.240  QUINCY. 

show  the  necessity  of  its  length.  To  each  of  the 
prisoners  different  evidence  applies,  and  each  of  them 
draw  their  defence  from  different  quarters. 

I  stated  to  you,  gentlemen,  your  duty  in  opening 
this  cause — do  not  forget  the  discharge  of  it.  You 
are  paying  a  debt  you  owe  the  community  for  your 
own  protection  and  safety :  by  the  same  mode  of  trial 
are  your  own  rights  to  receive  a  determination;  and 
in  your  turn  a  time  may  come  when  you  will  expect 
arid  claim  a  similar  return  from  some  other  jury  of 
your  fellow  subjects. 

In  opening  I  pointed  out  the  dangers  to  which  you 
were  exposed;  I  trust  your  own  recollection  will  now 
preclude  a  recapitulation  of  them.  The  reasons  of 
what  I  then  said,  I  trust  have  in  some  measure  ap 
peared;  the  propriety  of  some  of  those  observations 
has  been  corroborated  by  succeeding  evidence;  and 
you  must  have  traced  yourselves  some  of  those  conse 
quences,  turning  out  in  evidence,  which  have  had  inti 
mate  relation,  if  not  their  origin,  with  some  or  all  of 
those  opinions,  notions,  sentiments,  or  passions  (call 
them  what  you  will)  which  I  took  occasion  to  observe 
as  clues,  aids,  and  leading-strings  in  our  intended  ex 
amination  and  decision. 

How  much  need  was  there  for  my  desire  that  you 
should  suspend  your  judgment  till  the  witnesses  were 
all  examined?  How  different  is  the  complexion  of 
the  cause?  Will  not  all  this  serve  to  show  every 
honest  man  the  little  truth  to  be  attained  in  partial 
hearings  ?  We  have  often  seen  communities  complain 
of  ex  parte  testimonies ;  individuals  as  well  as  societies 
of  men  are  equally  susceptible  of  injuries  of  this  kind. 


QUINCY.  241 

This  trial  ought  to  have  another  effect ;  it  should  serve 
to  convince  us  all  of  the  impropriety,  nay,  injustice, 
of  giving  a  latitude  in  conversation  upon  topics  likely 
to  come  under  a  judicial  decision;  the  criminality  of 
this  conduct  is  certainly  enhanced  when  such  loose 
sallies  and  discourses  are  so  prevalent  as  to  be  likely 
to  touch  the  life  of  a  citizen;  moreover,  there  is  so 
little  certainty  to  be  obtained  by  such  kind  01  methods, 
I  wonder  we  so  often  find  them  practised.  In  the 
present  case,  how  great  was  the  prepossession  against 
us?  And  I  appeal  to  you,  gentlemen,  what  cause 
there  now  is  to  alter  our  sentiments  ?  Will  any  sober, 
prudent  man  countenance  the  proceedings  of  the 
people  in  King  Street, — can  any  one  justify  their  con 
duct, — is  there  any  one  man  or  any  body  of  men  who 
are  interested  to  espouse  and  support  their  conduct? 

Surely,  no!  But  our  inquiry  must  be  confined  to 
the  legality  of  their  conduct,  and  here  can  be  no  diffi 
culty.  It  was  certainly  illegal,  unless  many  witnesses 
are  directly  perjured:  witnesses,  who  have  no  appa 
rent  interest  to  falsify, — witnesses  who  have  given 
their  testimony  with  candor  and  accuracy, — witnesses 
whose  credibility  stands  untouched, — whose  credibil 
ity  the  counsel  for  the  king  do  not  pretend  to  impeach 
or  hint  a  suggestion  to  their  disadvantage. 

I  say,  gentlemen,  by  the  standard  of  the  law  are  we 
to  judge  the  actions  of  the  people  who  were  the  as 
sailants  and  those  who  w^ere  the  assailed  and  then  on 
duty.  And  here,  gentlemen,  the  rule  we  formerly 
laid  down  takes  place.  To  the  facts,  gentlemen,  apply 
yourselves.  Consider  them  as  testified;  weigh  the 
credibility  of  the  witnesses — balance  their  testimony 


242  QUINCY. 

— compare  the  several  parts  of  it — see  the  amount  of 
it;  and  then,  according  to  your  oath,  "  make  true  de 
liverance  according  to  your  evidence."  That  is,  gen 
tlemen,  having  settled  the  facts,  bring  them  truly  to 
the  standard  of  the  law;  the  king's  judges,  who  are 
acquainted  with  it,  who  are  presumed  best  to  know 
it,  will  then  inspect  this  great  standard  of  right  and 
wrong,  truth  and  justice;  and  they  are  to  determine 
the  degree  of  guilt  to  which  the  fact  rises. 

But  before  we  come  to  those  divisions  of  inquiry 
tinder  which  I  intend  to  consider  the  evidence,  let  me 
once  more  carefully  distinguish  between  the  trans 
actions  in  Cornhill  and  those  by  the  custom-house. 

The  conduct  of  the  soldiers  in  Cornhill  may  well 
be  supposed  to  have  exasperated  the  minds  of  all  who 
beheld  their  behavior.  Their  actions  accumulated 
guilt  as  it  flew — at  least,  we  may  well  suppose,  the 
incensed  people  who  related  them  added  new  colors 
to  the  scene.  The  flame  of  resentment  imperceptibly 
•enkindles,  and  a  common  acquaintance  with  human 
nature  will  show  that  it  is  no  extravagant  supposition 
to  imagine  many  a  moderate  man  might  at  such  a 
season,  with  such  sentiments,  which  I  have  more  than 
once  noticed, — hearing  such  relations  and  complaints; 
I  say,  do  I  injure  any  one,  in  supposing  that  under  all 
these  circumstances  a  very  moderate  person  who  in 
ordinary  matters  acted  with  singular  discretion  should 
now  be  drawn  imperceptibly  away,  or  rather  trans 
ported  into  measures  which  in  a  future  moment  he 
would  condemn  and  lament  ?  What  more  natural  sup 
position  than  to  suppose  many  an  honest  mind  might 
at  this  time  fluctuate  thus? 


QUINCY.  243 

The  soldiers  are  here — we  wish  them  away;  we 
did  not  send  for  them;  they  have  cut  and  wounded 
the  peaceable  inhabitants,  and  it  may  be  my  turn  next. 
At  this  instant  of  time  he  has  a  fresh  detail  of  in 
juries  :  resentment  redoubles  every  successive  moment 
- — huzza!  for  the  main  guard!  we  are  in  a  moment 
before  the  custom-house.  No  time  is  given  for 
reflection. 

We  find  from  the  king's  evidence  and  from  our 
own  the  cry  was,  "  Here  is  a  soldier !  " — not,  "  Here 
is  the  soldier  who  has  injured  us  " ;  "  Here  is  the  fel 
low  who  wounded  the  man  in  Cornhill."  No,  the  rea 
soning,  or  rather  ferment,  seems  to  be,  "  The  soldiers 
have  committed  an  outrage  " — "  We  have  an  equal 
right  to  inflict  punishment — or  rather  revenge — which 
they  had  to  make  an  assault."  They  said  "  right,"  but 
never  considered  that  those  soldiers  had  no  right  at 
all.  These  are  sentiments  natural  enough  to  persons 
in  this  state  of  mind :  we  can  easily  suppose  even  good 
men  thinking  and  acting  thus.  Very  similar  to  this  is 
the  force  of  Dr.  Hiron's  testimony  and  some  others 
But  our  inquiry  is,  What  says  the  law?  We  must 
calmly  inquire  whether  this,  or  anything  like  it,  is 
countenanced  by  the  law.  What  is  natural  to  the  man 
— what  are  his  feelings  are  one  thing:  what  is  the 
duty  of  the  citizen  is  quite  another.  Reason  must 
restime  her  seat,  and  then  we  shall  hear  and  obey  the 
voice  of  the  law. 

The  law  indulges  no  man  in  being  his  own  avenger. 
Early  in  the  history  of  jurisprudence  we  find  the 
sword  taken  from  the  party  injured  and  put  into  the 
hands  of  the  magistrate.  Were  not  this  the  case,  pun- 


244  QUINCY. 

ishment  would  know  no  bounds  in  extent  or  duration. 
Besides,  it  saps  the  very  root  of  distributive  justice 
when  any  individual  invades  the  prerogative  of  law 
and  snatches  from  the  civil  magistrate  the  balance  and 
the  rod.  How  much  more  are  the  pillars  of  security 
shaken,  when  a  mixed  body,  assembled  as  those  in 
King  Street,  assume  the  province  of  justice  and  in 
vade  the  rights  of  the  citizen?  For  it  must  not  be 
forgot  that  the  soldier  is  a  citizen,  equally  entitled 
with  us  all  to  protection  and  security.  Hence  all  are 
alike  obliged  to  pay  obedience  to  the  law;  for  the 
price  of  this  protection  is  that  of  obedience. 

Let  it  not  be  apprehended  that  I  am  advancing  a 
doctrine  that  a  soldier  may  attack  an  inhabitant  and  he 
not  allowed  to  defend  himself.  No,  gentlemen,  if  a 
soldier  rush  violently  through  the  street  and  presents 
a  weapon  of  death  in  a  striking  posture,  no  doubt  the 
person  assailed  may  defend  himself  even  to  taking 
the  life  of  the  assailant.  Revenge  and  a  sense  of 
self-preservation  instantly  take  possession  of  the  per 
son  thus  attacked;  and  the  law  goes  not  upon  the  ab 
surd  supposition  that  a  person  can  in  these  circum 
stances  unman  himself.  Hence  we  find  a  husband, 
taking  his  wife  in  the  act  of  adultery,  instantly  seizes 
a  deadly  weapon  and  slays  the  adulterer.  It  is  not 
murder.  Nay,  a  fillip  upon  the  nose  or  forehead,  in 
anger,  is  supposed  by  the  law  to  be  sufficient  provoca 
tion  to  reduce  killing  to  manslaughter.  It  is  therefore 
upon  principles  like  these — principles  upon  which 
those  who  now  bear  the  hardest  against  us  at  other 
times  so  much  depend ;  it  is,  I  say,  upon  the  right  of 


QUINCV.  245 

self-defence  and  self-preservation  we  rely  for  our  ac 
quittal. 

Here  again  it  should  be  kept  in  view  that  whenever 
a  party  injuring  has  escaped  by  flight,  and  time  suf 
ficient  for  the  passions  to  cool,  in  judgment  of  law, 
hath  elapsed,  however  great  the  injury,  the  injured 
party  must  have  recourse  to  law  for  his  redress.  Such 
is  the  wisdom  of  the  law ;  of  that  law,  than  which  we 
are  none  of  us  to  presume  ourselves  wiser;  of  that 
law  which  is  found  in  the  experience  of  ages,  and 
which  in  condescension  to  the  infirmities  *of  flesh  and 
blood  (but  to  nothing  else)  extenuates  the  offence. 

For  "  no  man,"  says  the  learned  Judge  Foster, 
"  under  the  protection  of  the  law  is  to  be  the  avenger 
of  his  own  wrongs.  If  they  are  of  sucrua  nature  for 
which  the  laws  of  society  will  give  him  an  adequate 
remedy,  thither  he  ought  to  resort.  But  be  they  of 
what  nature  soever,  he  ought  to  bear  his  lot  with  pa 
tience  and  remember  that  vengeance  belongeth  to  the 
Most  High." 

Now,  gentlemen,  those,  whoever  they  were,  who 
committed  the  outrage  in  Cornhill,  had  absconded; 
the  soldiers,  who  are  supposed  to  have  done  them, 
were  confined  in  their  barracks.  People  were  re 
peatedly  told  this  and  assured  by  the  military  officers 
that  they  should  not  go  unpunished.  But  what  fol 
lowed  ?  Are  all  present  appeased  ?  We  are  constrain 
ed  by  the  force  of  the  evidence  to  affirm  they  were  not. 
But  to  get  regular  and  right  ideas  we  must  consider 
all  the  commotions  of  the  season  and  endeavor  to 
come  at  the  truth  by  analyzing  the  evidence  and  ar 
ranging  it  under  distinct  heads  of  inquiry. 


246  QUINCY. 

[After  a  further  consideration  of  the  evidence  in 
the  case  Mr.  Quincy  remarked :] 

May  it  please  your  honors  and  you  gentlemen  of 
the  jury :  After  having  thus  gone  through  the  evi 
dence  and  considered  it  as  applicatory  to  all  and  every 
of  the  prisoners,  the  next  matter  in  order  seems  to 
be  the  consideration  of  the  law  pertinent  upon  this 
evidence. 

And  here,  gentlemen,  let  me  again  inform  you  that 
the  law  which  is  to  pass  upon  these  prisoners  is  a  law 
adapting  itself  to  the  human  species  with  all  their 
feelings,  passions,  and  infirmities :  a  law  which  does 
not  go  upon  the  absurd  supposition  that  men  are  stocks 
and  stones,  or  that  in  the  fervor  of  the  blood  a  man 
can  act  with  the  deliberation  and  judgment  of  a  phil 
osopher.  No,  gentlemen;  the  law  supposes  that  a 
principle  of  resentment,  for  wise  and  obvious  reasons, 
is  deeply  implanted  in  the  human  heart,  and  not  to  be 
eradicated  by  the  efforts  of  State  policy.  It  therefore 
in  some  degree  conforms  itself  to  all  the  workings  of 
the  passions,  to  which  it  pays  a  great  indulgence,  so 
far  as  not  to  be  wholly  incompatible  with  the  wisdom, 
good  order,  and  the  very  being  of  government. 

Keeping,  therefore,  this  full  in  view,  let  us  take 
once  more  a  very  brief  and  cursory  survey  of  mat 
ters  supported  by  the  evidence.  And  here  let  me  ask 
sober  reason,  What  language  more  opprobrious,  what 
actions  more  exasperating,  than  those  used  on  this 
occasion?  Words,  I  am  sensible,  are  no  justification 
of  blows,  but  they  serve  as  the  grand  clues  to  discover 
the  temper  and  the  designs  of  the  agents;  they  serve 


QUINCY.  247 

also  to  give  us  light  in  discerning  the  apprehensions 
and  thoughts  of  those  who  are  the  objects  of  abuse. 

"  You  lobster  ["  —  "  You  bloody-back !  "— "  You 
coward !  "  "  You  dastard !  "  are  but  some  of  the 
expressions  proved.  What  words  more  galling? 
What  more  cutting  and  provoking  to  a  soldier  ?  To  be 
reminded  of  the  color  of  his  garb,  by  which  he  was 
distinguished  from  the  rest  of  his  fellow  citizens;  to 
be  compared  to  the  most  despicable  animal  that  crawls 
upon  the  earth,  was  touching  indeed  a  tender  point. 
To  be  stigmatized  with  having  smarted  under  the 
lash  at  the  halbert,  to  be  twitted  with  so  infamous  an 
ignominy,  which  was  either  wholly  undeserved  or  a 
grievance  which  would  never  have  been  repeated, — 
I  say  to  call  up  and  awaken  sensations  of  this  kind 
must  sting  even  to  madness.  But  accouple  these 
words  with  the  succeeding  actions, — "  You  dastard  I" 
"  You  coward !  "  A  soldier  and  a  coward ! 

This  was  touching  (with  a  witness)  "the  point  of 
honor  and  the  pride  of  virtue."  But  while  these  are 
as  yet  fomenting  the  passions  and  swelling  the  bosom, 
the  attack  is  made ;  and  probably  the  latter  words  were 
reiterated  at  the  onset;  at  least,  were  yet  sounding  in 
the  ear.  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  for  heaven's  sake 
let  us  put  ourselves  in  the  same  situation !  Would  you 
not  spurn  at  that  spiritless  institution  of  society  which 
tells  you  to  be  a  subject  at  the  expense  of  your  man 
hood? 

But  does  the  soldier  step  out  of  his  ranks  to  seek 
his  revenge  ?  Not  a  witness  pretends  it.  Did  not  the 
people  repeatedly  come  within  the  points  of  their 


248  QUINCY. 

bayonets  and  strike  on  the  muzzles  of  the  guns  ?  You 
have  heard  the  witnesses. 

Does  the  law  allow  one  member  of  the  community 
to  behave  in  this  manner  towards  his  fellow  citizen, 
and  then  bid  the  injured  party  be  calm  and  moderate? 
The  expressions  from  one  party  were — "  Stand  off, 
stand  off!"  "I  am  upon  my  station," — "if  they 
molest  me  upon  my  post,  I  will  fire."  "  By  God,  I 
will  fire!"  "Keep  off!" 

These  words  were  likely  to  produce  reflection  and 
procure  peace.  But  had  the  words  on  the  other  hand 
a  similar  tendency?  Consider  the  temper  prevalent 
among  all  parties  at  this  time.  Consider  the  then 
situation  of  the  soldiery;  and  come  to  the  heat  and 
pressure  of  the  action.  The  materials  are  laid,  the 
spark  is  raised,  the  fire  enkindles,  the  flame  rages, 
the  understanding  is  in  wild  disorder,  all  prudence  and 
true  wisdom  are  utterly  consumed.  Does  common 
sense,  does  the  law  expect  impossibilities? 

Here,  to  expect  equanimity  of  temper,  would  be  as 
irrational  as  to  expect  discretion  in  a  madman.  But 
was  anything  done  on  the  part  of  the  assailants  sim 
ilar  to  the  conduct,  warnings,  and  declarations  of  the 
prisoners?  Answer  for  yourselves,  gentlemen!  The 
words  reiterated  all  around  stabbed  to  the  heart;  the 
actions  of  the  assailants  tended  to  a  worse  end, — to 
awaken  every  passion  of  which  the  human  breast  is 
susceptible;  fear,  anger,  pride,  resentment,  revenge, 
alternately  take  possession  of  the  whole  man. 

To  expect,  under  these  circumstances,  that  such 
words  would  assuage  the  tempest,  that  such  actions 
would  allay  the  flames; — you  might  as  rationally  ex- 


QUINCY.  249 

pect  the  inundations  of  a  torrent  would  suppress  a 
deluge;  or  rather  that  the  flames  of  Aetna  would  ex 
tinguish  a  conflagration !  • 

Prepare,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  now  to  attend  to 
that  species  of  law  which  will  adapt  itself  to  this  trial 
with  all  its  singular  and  aggravating  circumstances. 
A  law  full  of  benignity,  full  of  compassion,  replete 
with  mercy. 

And  here,  gentlemen,  I  must,  agreeable  to  the 
method  we  formerly  adopted,  first  tell  you  by  what 
faw  the  prisoners  are  not  to  be  tried  or  condemned. 
And  they  most  certainly  are  not  to  be  tried  by  the 
Mosaic  law :  a  law,  we  take  it,  peculiarly  designed  for 
the  government  of  a  peculiar  nation,  who  being  in  a 
great  measure  under  a  theocratical  form  of  govern 
ment,  its  institutions  cannot,  with  any  propriety,  be 
adduced  for  our  regulation  in  these  days. 

It  is  with  pain,  therefore,  I  have  observed  any  en 
deavor  to  mislead  our  judgment  on  this  occasion;  by 
drawing  our  attention  to  the  precepts  delivered  in  the 
days  of  Moses,  and  by  disconnected  passages  of  Scrip 
tures  applied  in  a  manner  foreign  to  their  original 
design  or  import,  there  seems  to  have  been  an  at 
tempt  to  touch  some  peculiar  sentiments  which  we 
know  are  thought  to  be  prevalent :  and  in  this  way, 
we  take  it,  an  injury  is  likely  to  be  done,  by  giving  the 
mind  a  bias,  it  ought  never  to  have  received;  because 
it  is  not  warranted  by  our  laws. 

We  have  heard  it  publicly  said  of  late,  oftener  than 
formerly,  "  Whosoever  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man 
shall  has  blood  be  shed."  This  is  plainly,  gentlemen, 
a  general  rule  which,  like  all  others  of  the  kind,  must 


250  QUINCY. 

have  its  exceptions, — a  rule  which  if  taken  in  its 
strict  literal  latitude  would  imply  that  a  man  killing 
another  in  self-defence  would  incur  the  pains  of 
death;  a  doctrine  which  no  man  in  his  senses  would 
ever  embrace;  a  doctrine  that  certainly  never  pre 
vailed  under  the  Mosaical  institution.  For  we  find 
the  Jews  had  their  six  cities  of  refuge  to  which  the 
manslayer  might  flee  from  the  avenger  of  blood;  and 
something  analogous  to  this  (if  it  did  not  originate 
from  it)  is  our  benefit  of  clergy. 

And  so,  that  "  the  murderer  shall  flee  to  the  pit," 
comes  under  the  same  consideration.  And  when  we 
hear  it  asked,  as  it  very  lately  has  been,  "  Who  dare 
stay  him  ?  "  I  answer,  if  the  laws  of  our  country  stay 
him,  you  ought  to  do  likewise;  and  every  good  subject 
dares  to  do  what  the  law  allows.  But  the  very  posi 
tion  is  begging  the  question;  for  the  question  now  in 
issue  is,  whether  either  of  the  prisoners  is  a  murderer 
in  the  sense  of  our  laws  ?  for  you  recollect  that  what  is 
murder  and  what  not  is  a  question  of  law  arising  upon 
facts  stated  and  allowed. 

But  to  go  on :  "  You  shall  take  no  satisfaction  for 
the  life  of  a  murderer  which  is  guilty  of  death."  Here 
again  is  a  begging  of  the  question ;  and  moreover  the 
words  "  guilty  of  death,"  if  rightly  rendered  from  the 
original,  must  be  one  of  those  general  rules  I  just 
now  mentioned,  which  always  have  their  exceptions. 
But  these  words  seem  to  be  wrongly  translated;  for 
in  the  margin  of  our  great  Bible  we  find  them  ren- 
'dered  "  faulty  to  die."  Against  a  position  of  this  kind 
we  have  no  objection.  If  we  have  committed  a  fault 
on  which  our  laws  inflict  punishment  of  death  we 


QUINCY.  251 

must  suffer.  But  what  fault  we  have  committed  you 
are  to  inquire:  or  rather  you,  gentlemen,  are  to  find 
the  facts  proved  in  court  against  us,  and  the  judges 
are  to  see  and  consider  what  the  law  pronounces 
touching  our  offence  and  what  punishment  is  thereby 
inflicted  as  a  penalty. 

In  order  to  come  at  the  whole  law  resulting  from 
the  facts  which  have  been  proved  we  must  inquire 
into  the  legality  of  the  assemblies.  For  such  is  the 
wisdom  and  policy  of  the  law  that  if  any  assembly 
be  lawful  each  individual  of  that  assembly  is  answer 
able  only  for  his  own  act  and  not  for  any  other.  On 
the  contrary,  if  an  assembly  be  unlawful,  the  act  of 
any  one  of  the  company  to  the  particular  purpose  of 
assembling  is  chargeable  on  all.  This  is  law  which 
no  lawyer  will  dispute :  it  is  a  law  founded  in  the 
security  of  the  peace  of  society,  and,  however  little 
considered  by  people  in  general,  it  ought  now  steadily 
to  be  kept  in  mind. 

Was  the  assembly  of  the  soldiers  lawful? 

For  what  did  the  soldiers  assemble? 

Was  the  sentinel  insulted  and  attacked? 

Did  he  call  for  assistance,  and  did  the  party  go  to 
assist  him? 

Was  it  lawful  for  them  so  to  do? 

Were  the  soldiers,  when  thus  lawfully  assembled, 
assaulted,  etc.,  by  a  great  number  of  people  assem 
bled,  etc.? 

Was  this  last  assembly  lawful? 

Was  anything  done  by  this  unlawful  assembly  that 
will  in  law  justify,  excuse,  or  extenuate  the  offence 
of  killing,  so  as  to  reduce  it  to  manslaughter? 


2$2  QUINCY. 

Was  the  killing  justifiable;  or  rather  was  it  justifi 
able  self-defence? 

Was  the  killing  excusable;  or  rather  was  it  self- 
defence,  culpable,  but,  through  the  benignity  of  the 
law,  excusable? 

Was  the  killing  felonious :  if  felonious,  was  it  with 
or  without  malice? 

[Under  each  of  these  heads  of  inquiry,  in  their 
order,  Mr.  Ouincy  arranged  his  arguments :  and  as 
he  separated  and  compared  and  settled  the  facts,  he 
applied  the  law  with  explanatory  comments.  After 
which,  he  concluded  his  argument  as  follows:] 

May  it  please  your  honors,  and  you,  gentlemen  of 
the  jury :  I  have  now  gone  through  those  authorities 
in  law  which  I  thought  pertinent  to  this  trial.  I  have 
been  thus  lengthy,  not  for  the  information  of  the 
court,  but  to  satisfy  you  gentlemen,  and  all  who  may 
chance  to  hear  me,  of  that  law  which  is  well  known 
to  those  of  us  who  are  conversant  in  courts,  but  not 
so  generally  known  or  attended  to  by  many  as  it 
ought  to  be — a  law  which  extends  to  each  of  us  as 
well  as  to  any  of  the  prisoners;  for  it  knows  no  dis 
tinction  of  persons. 

And  the  doctrines  which  have  been  thus  laid  down 
are  for  the  safeguard  of  us  all, — doctrines  which  are 
founded  in  the  wisdom  and  policy  of  ages ;  which  the 
greatest  men  who  ever  lived  have  adopted  and  con 
tended  for.  Nay,  the  matter  has  been  carried  by  very 
wise  men  much  further  than  we  have  contested  for. 
And  that  you  may  not  think  the  purport  of  the  au 
thorities  read  are  the  rigid  notions  of  a  dry  system  and 
the  contracted  decisions  of  municipal  law,  I  beg  leave 


QUINCY.  253 

to  read  to  you  a  passage  from  a  very  great  theoretic 
writer — a  man  whose  praises  have  resounded  through 
all  the  known  world,  and  probably  will  through  all 
ages — whose  sentiments  are  as  free  air,  and  who  has 
done  as  much  for  learning,  liberty,  and  mankind  as 
any  of  the  sons  of  Adam — I  mean  the  sagacious  Mr. 
Locke.  He  will  tell  you  gentlemen,  in  his  Essay  on 
Government,  "  that  all  manner  of  force  without  right 
puts  man  in  a  state  of  war  with  the  aggressor;  and 
of  consequence,  that  being  in  such  a  state  of  war,  he 
may  lave  fully  kill  him  who  put  him  under  this  unnat 
ural  restraint."  According  to  this  doctrine  we  should 
have  nothing  to  do  but  inquire  whether  here  was  "force 
without  right;"  if  so,  we  were  in  such  a  state  as 
rendered  it  lawful  to  kill  the  aggressor  who  put  us 
under  so  unnatural  a  restraint. 

Few,  I  believe,  will  say,  after  hearing  all  this  evi 
dence,  that  we  were  under  no  "  unnatural  restraint." 
But  we  don't  want  to  extend  matters  so  far.  We  cite 
this  author  to  show  the  world  that  the  greatest  friends 
to  their  country,  to  universal  liberty,  and  the  immut 
able  rights  of  all  men,  have  held  tenets  and  advanced 
maxims  more  favorable  to  the  prisoners  at  the  bar. 
And  although  we  should  not  adopt  the  sentiments  of 
Mr.  Locke  in  their  most  extensive  latitude,  yet  there 
seems  to  be  something  very  analogous  to  his  opinion 
which  is  countenanced  in  our  laws. 

There  is  a  spirit  which  pervades  the  whole  system 
of  English  jurisprudence,  which  inspires  a  freedom  of 
thought,  speech,  and  behavior.  Under  a  form  of  gov 
ernment  like  ours,  it  would  be  in  vain  to  expect  that 
pacific,  timid,  obsequious,  and  servile  temper,  so  pre- 


254  QUINCY. 

dominant  in  more  despotic  governments.  From  our 
happy  constitution  there  results  its  very  natural  ef 
fects — an  impatience  of  injuries  and  a  strong  resent 
ment  of  insults  (and  a  very  wise  man  has  said,  "  He 
who  tamely  beareth  insults  inviteth  injuries"). 
Hence,  I  take  it,  that  attention  to  the  "  feelings  of  hu 
manity,"  to  "  humanity  and  imperfection,"  "  the  in 
firmities  of  flesh  and  blood ;"  that  attention  to  "  the  in 
delible  rights  of  mankind ;"  that  lenity  to  "  the  pas 
sions  of  men ;"  that  "  benignity  and  condescension  of 
the  law,"  so  often  repeated  in  our  books. 

And,  indeed,  if  this  were  not  the  case,  the  genius 
of  our  civil  constitution  and  the  spirit  of  our  municipal 
law  would  be  repugnant:  that  prime  defect  in* any  po 
litical  system — that  grand  solecism  in  State  policy. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury:  This  case  has  taken  up 
much  of  your  time,  and  it  is  likely  to  take  up  so  much 
more  that  I  must  hasten  to  a  close.  Indeed,  I  should 
not  have  troubled  you,  by  being  thus  lengthy,  but  from 
a  sense  of  duty  to  the  prisoners;  they  who  in  some 
sense  may  be  said  to  have  put  their  lives  in  my  hands ; 
they  whose  situation  was  so  peculiar  that  we  have  ne 
cessarily  taken  up  more  time  than  ordinary  cases  re 
quire.  They,  under  all  these  circumstances,  placed  a 
confidence  it  was  my  duty  not  to  disappoint,  and 
which  I  have  aimed  at  discharging  with  fidelity.  I 
trust  you,  gentlemen,  will  do  the  like;  that  you  will 
examine  and  judge  with  a  becoming  temper  of  mind ; 
remembering  that  they  who  are  under  oath  to  de 
clare  the  whole  truth  think  and  act  very  differently 
from  bystanders,  who,  being  under  no  ties  of  this 


QUINCY.  255 

kind,  take  a  latitude  which  is  by  no  means  admissible 
in  a  court  of  law. 

I  cannot  close  this  cause  better  than  by  desiring  you 
to  consider  well  the  genius  and  spirit  of  the  law  which 
will  be  laid  down,  and  to  govern  yourselves  by  this 
great  standard  of  truth.  To  some  purposes,  you  may 
be  said,  gentlemen,  to  be  ministers  of  justice;  and 
"  ministers,"  says  a  learned  judge,  "  appointed  for 
the  ends  of  public  justice,  should  have  written  on 
their  hearts  the  solemn  engagements  of  his  Majesty, 
at  his  coronation,  to  cause  law  and  justice  in  mercy 
to  be  executed  in  all  his  judgments." 

"  The  quality  of  mercy  is  not  strained  ; 
It  droppeth  like  the  gentle  rain  from  heaven. 

It  is  twice  blessed  ; 
It  blesses  him  that  gives,  and  him  that  takes." 

I  leave  you,  gentlemen,  hoping  you  will  be  directed 
in  your  inquiry  and  judgment  to  a  right  discharge  of 
your  duty.  We  shall  all  of  us,  gentlemen,  have  an 
hour  of  cool  reflection  when  the  feelings  and  agita 
tions  of  the  day  shall  have  subsided;  when  we  shall 
view  things  through  a  different  and  a  much  juster 
medium.  It  is  then  we  all  wish  an  absolving  con 
science.  May  you,  gentlemen,  now  act  such  a  part  as 
will  hereafter  ensure  it;  such  a  part  as  may  occasion 
the  prisoners  to  rejoice.  May  the  blessing  of  those 
who  were  in  jeopardy  of  life  come  upon  you — may  the 
blessing  of  Him  who  is  "  not  faulty  to  die  "  descend 
and  rest  upon  you  and  your  posterity. 


256  JAY. 

Jay,  John,  a  noted  American  patriot,  born  in  New 
York  City,  Dec.  12,  1745  ;  died  at  Bedford,  N.  Y.,  May  17, 
1829.  He  was  conspicuous  in  the  political  events  of  the 
Revolutionary  period,  and  contributed  powerfully  by  his  pen 
toward  the  achievement  of  national  independence,  as  well  as 
to  the  organization  of  the  new  government.  He  was  asso 
ciated  with  Hamilton  and  Madison  in  the  writing  of  The 
Federalist,  and  he  negotiated  what  is  known  as  Jay's  Treaty 
with  England,  in  1794.  He  was  appointed  by  Washington 
in  1789  the  first  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States.  He  was 
governor  of  New  York,  1795-1801,  and  under  his  auspices 
slavery  was  forever  abolished  in  that  State  in  1799.  Jav  was 
an  eloquent  writer  and  speaker,  the  most  celebrated  of  his 
many  important  State  papers  being  the  "  Address  to  the 
People  of  Great  Britain,"  in  1774. 


ADDRESS    TO    THE    PEOPLE    OF    GREAT 
BRITAIN. 

[Congress,  an  October  n,  1774,  appointed  Mr.  Lee,  Mr.  Living 
ston  and  Mr.  Jay  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial  to  the  people 
of  British  America,  and  an  address  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain. 
On  the  1 8th,  Mr.  Jay  reported  a  draught  of  the  address,  which  was 
discussed  and  amended  on  the  day  following,  and  on  the  2ist  was 
approved  by  Congress.] 

FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW  SUBJECTS, — When  a  nation 
led  to  greatness  by  the  hand  of  liberty,  and  possessed 
of  all  the  glory  that  heroism,  munificence,  and  human 
ity  can  bestow,  descends  to  the  ungrateful  task  of 
forging  chains  for  her  friends  and  children,  and,  in 
stead  of  giving  support  to  freedom,  turns  advocate  for 
slavery  and  oppression,  there  is  reason  to  suspect  she 


JAY.  257 

has  either  ceased  to  be  virtuous  or  been  extremely 
negligent  in  the  appointment  of  her  rulers. 

In  almost  every  age,  in  repeated  conflicts  in  long 
and  bloody  wars,  as  well  civil  as  foreign,  against  many 
and  powerful  nations,  against  the  open  assaults  of 
enemies,  and  the  more  dangerous  treachery  of  friends, 
have  the  inhabitants  of  your  island,  your  great  and 
glorious  ancestors,  maintained  their  independence  and 
transmitted  the  rights  of  men  and  the  blessings  of  lib 
erty  to  you,  their  posterity. 

Be  not  surprised,  therefore,  that  we  who  are  de 
scended  from  the  same  common  ancestors,  that  we 
whose  forefathers  participated  in  'all  the  rights,  the 
liberties,  and  the  constitution  you  so  justly  boast  of, 
and  who  have  carefully  conveyed  the  same  fair  in 
heritance  to  us,  guaranteed  by  the  plighted  faith  of 
government  and  the  most  solemn  compacts  with  Brit 
ish  sovereigns,  should  refuse  to  surrender  them  to 
men  who  found  their  claims  on  no  principles  of  rea 
son,  and  who  prosecute  them  with  a  design  that,  by 
having  our  lives  and  property  in  their  power,  they 
may,  with  the  greatest  facility,  enslave  you. 

The  cause  of  America  is  now  the  object  of  universal 
attention;  it  has  at  length  become  very  serious.  This 
unhappy  country  has  not  only  been  oppressed,  but 
abused  and  misrepresented;  and  the  duty  we  owe  to 
ourselves  and  posterity,  to  your  interest,  and  the  gen 
eral  welfare  of  the  British  empire,  leads  us  to  address 
you  on  this  very  important  subject. 

Know,  then,  that  we  consider  ourselves,  and  do  in 
sist,  that  we  are  and  ought  to  be  as  free  as  our  fellow 
subjects  in  Britain,  and  that  no  power  on  earth  has  a 


258  JAY. 

right  to  take  our  property  from  us  without  our  con 
sent. 

That  we  claim  all  the  benefits  secured  to  the  sub 
ject  by  the  English  constitution,  and  particularly  that 
inestimable  one  of  trial  by  jury. 

That  we  hold  it  essential  to  English  liberty  that  no 
man  be  condemned  unheard,  or  punished  for  supposed 
offences  without  having  an  opportunity  of  making 
his  defence. 

That  we  think  the  legislature  of  Great  Britain  is 
not  authorized  by  the  constitution  to  establish  a  re 
ligion  fraught  with  sanguinary  and  impious  tenets,  or 
to  erect  an  arbitrary  form  of  government  in  any  quar 
ter  of  the  globe.  These  rights  we,  as  well  as  you, 
deem  sacred;  and  yet,  sacred  as  they  are,  they  have, 
with  many  others,  been  repeatedly  and  flagrantly  vio 
lated. 

Are  not  the  proprietors  of  the  soil  of  Great  Britain 
lords  of  their  own  property?  Can  it  be  taken  from 
them  without  their  consent?  Will  they  yield  it  to  the 
arbitrary  disposal  of  any  man  or  number  of  men  what 
ever?  You  know  they  will  not. 

Why,  then,  are  the  proprietors  of  the  soil  of 
'America  less  lords  of  their  property  than  you  are  of 
yours  ?  or  why  should  they  submit  it  to  the  disposal  of 
your  Parliament,  or  any  other  parliament  or  council 
in  the  world  not  of  their  election  ?  Can  the  interven 
tion  of  the  sea  that  divides  us  cause  disparity  in  rights, 
or  can  any  reason  be  given  why  English  subjects  who 
live  three  thousand  miles  from  the  royal  palace 
should  enjoy  less  liberty  than  those  who  are  three 
hundred  miles  distant  from  it? 


JAY.  259- 

Reason  looks  with  indignation  on  such  distinctions, 
and  freemen  can  never  perceive  their  propriety.  And 
yet,  however  chimerical  and  unjust  such  discrimina 
tions  are,  the  Parliament  assert  that  they  have  a  right 
to  bind  us  in  all  cases,  without  exception,  whether  we 
consent  or  not;  that  they  may  take  and  use  our  prop 
erty  when  and  in  what  manner  they  please;  that  we 
are  pensioners  on  their  bounty  for  all  that  we  possess, 
and  can  hold  it  no  longer  than  they  vouchsafe  to  per 
mit.  Such  declarations  we  consider  as  heresies  in 
English  politics,  and  which  can  no  more  operate  to 
deprive  us  of  our  property  than  the  interdicts  of  the 
Pope  can  divest  kings  of  sceptres  which  the  laws  of 
the  land  and  the  voice  of  the  people  have  placed  in  their 
hands. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  late  war, — a  war  rendered 
glorious  by  the  abilities  and  integrity  of  a  minister 
to  whose  efforts  the  British  empire  owes  its  safety  and 
its  fame ;  at  the  conclusion  of  this  war,  which  was  suc 
ceeded  by  an  inglorious  peace,  formed  under  the  aus 
pices  of  a  minister  of  principles  and  of  a  family  un 
friendly  to  the  Protestant  cause  and  inimical  to  lib 
erty — we  say  at  this  period,  and  under  the  influence 
of  that  man,  a  plan  for  enslaving  your  fellow  subjects 
in  America  was  concerted,  and  has  ever  since  been 
pertinaciously  carrying  into  execution. 

Prior  to  this  era  you  were  content  with  drawing 
from  us  the  wealth  produced  by  our  commerce :  you 
restrained  your  trade  in  every  way  that  could  con 
duce  to  your  emolument.  You  exercised  unbounded 
sovereignty  over  the  sea.  You  named  the  ports  and 

nations  to  which  alone  our  merchandise  should  be 
/    9—1 


260  JAY. 

carried,  and  with  whom  alone  we  should  trade;  and 
though  some  of  these  restrictions  were  grievous,  we 
nevertheless  did  not  complain.  We  looked  up  to  you 
as  to  our  parent  state,  to  which  we  were  bound  by  the 
strongest  ties,  and  were  happy  in  being  instrumental 
to  your  prosperity  and  your  grandeur. 

We  call  upon  you,  yourselves,  to  witness  our  loyalty 
and  attachment  to  the  common  interest  of  the  whole 
empire.  Did  we  not,  in  the  last  war,  add  all  the 
strength  of  this  vast  continent  to  the  force  which  re 
pelled  our  common  enemy?  Did  we  not  leave  our 
native  shores  and  meet  disease  and  death  to  promote 
the  success  of  British  arms  in  foreign  climates?  Did 
you  not  thank  us  for  our  zeal,  and  even  reimburse  us 
large  sums  of  money  which  you  confessed  we  had  ad 
vanced  beyond  our  proportion  and  far  beyond  our 
abilities?  You  did. 

To  what  causes,  then,  are  we  to  attribute  the  sud 
den  change  of  treatment  and  that  system  of  slavery 
which  was  prepared  for  us  at  the  restoration  of  peace  ? 

Before  we  had  recovered  from  the  distresses  which 
ever  attend  war,  an  attempt  was  made  to  drain  this 
country  of  all  its  money  by  the  oppressive  Stamp  Act. 
Paint,  glass,  and  other  commodities  which  you  would 
not  permit  us  to  purchase  of  other  nations  were  taxed ; 
nay,  although  no  wine  is  made  in  any  country  subject 
to  the  British  state,  you  prohibited  our  procuring  it  of 
foreigners  without  paying  a  tax,  imposed  by  your 
Parliament,  on  all  we  imported.  These  and  many 
other  impositions  were  laid  upon  us,  most  unjustly 
and  unconstitutionally,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
raising  a  revenue.  In  order  to  silence  complaint  it 


JAY.  26l 

was  indeed  provided  that  this  revenue  should  be  ex 
pended  in  America  for  its  protection  and  defence. 

These  exactions,  however,  can  receive  no  justifi 
cation  from  a  pretended  necessity  of  protecting  and 
defending  us.  They  are  lavishly  squandered  on  court 
favorites  and  ministerial  dependents,  generally  avowed 
enemies  to  America,  and  employing  themselves  by 
partial  representations  to  traduce  and  embroil  the 
colonies. 

For  the  necessary  support  of  government  here,  we 
ever  were  and  ever  shall  be  ready  to  provide.  And 
whenever  the  exigencies  of  the  state  may  require  it, 
we  shall,  as  we  have  heretofore  done,  cheerfully  con 
tribute  our  full  proportion  of  men  and  money. 

To  enforce  this  unconstitutional  and  unjust  scheme 
of  taxation,  every  fence  that  the  wisdom  of  our  Brit 
ish  ancestors  had  carefully  erected  against  arbitrary 
power  has  been  violently  thrown  down  in  America, 
and  the  inestimable  right  of  trial  by  jury  taken  away 
in  cases  that  touch  both  life  and  property.  It  was  or 
dained  that  whenever  offences  should  be  committed 
in  the  colonies  against  particular  acts  imposing  various 
duties  and  restrictions  upon  trade,  the  prosecutor 
might  bring  his  action  for  the  penalties  in  the  courts 
of  admiralty,  by  which  means  the  subject  lost  the  ad 
vantage  of  being  tried  by  an  honest,  uninfluenced 
jury  of  he  vicinage,  and  was  subjected  to  the  sad  ne 
cessity  of  being  judged  by  a  single  man,  a  creature  of 
the  crown,  and  according  to  the  course  of  a  law  which 
exempts  the  prosecutor  from  the  trouble  of  proving" 
his  accusation  and  obliges  the  defendant  either  to 
evince  his  innocence  or  to  suffer. 


262  JAY. 

To  give  this  new  judicatory  the  greater  importance, 
and  as  if  with  design  to  protect  false  accusers,  it  is 
further  provided  that  the  judge's  certificate  of  there 
having  been  probable  causes  of  seizure  and  prosecu 
tion  shall  protect  the  prosecutor  from  actions  at  com 
mon  law  for  recovery  of  damages. 

By  the  course  of  our  law,  offences  committed  in 
such  of  the  British  dominions  in  which  courts  are  es 
tablished  and  justice  duly  and  regularly  administered 
shall  be  there  tried  by  a  jury  of  the  vicinage.  There 
the  offenders  and  the  witnesses  are  known,  and  the 
degree  of  credibility  to  be  given  to  their  testimony 
can  be  ascertained. 

In  all  these  colonies  justice  is  regularly  and  im 
partially  administered;  and  yet,  by  the  construction 
of  some,  and  the  direction  of  other  acts  of  Parliament, 
offenders  are  to  be  taken  by  force,  together  with  all 
such  persons  as  may  be  pointed  out  as  witnesses,  and 
carried  to  England,  there  to  be  tried  in  a  distant  land 
by  a  jury  of  strangers  and  subject  to  all  the  disad 
vantages  that  result  from  the  want  of  friends,  want  of 
witnesses,  and  want  of  money. 

When  the  design  of  raising  a  revenue  from  the 
duties  imposed  on  the  importation  of  tea  into  America 
had  in  great  measure  been  rendered  abortive  by  our 
ceasing  to  import  that  commodity,  a  scheme  was  con 
certed  by  the  ministry  with  the  East  India  Company, 
and  an  act  passed  enabling  and  encouraging  them  to 
transport  and  vend  it  in  the  colonies.  Aware  of  the 
danger  of  giving  success  to  this  insidious  manoeuvre, 
and  of  permitting  a  precedent  of  taxation  thus  to  be 


JAY.  263 

established  among  us,  various  methods  were  adopted 
to  elude  the  stroke. 

The  people  of  Boston,  then  ruled  by  a  governor 
whom,  as  well  as  his  predecessor,  Sir  Francis  Ber 
nard,  all  America  considers  as  her  enemy,  were  ex 
ceedingly  embarrassed.  The  ships  which  had  arrived 
with  the  tea  were,  by  his  management,  prevented 
from  returning.  The  duties  would  have  been  paid; 
the  cargoes  landed  and  exposed  to  sale;  a  governor's 
influence  would  have  procured  and  protected  many 
purchasers. 

While  the  town  was  suspended  by  deliberations  on 
this  important  subject  the  tea  was  destroyed.  Even 
supposing  a  trespass  was  thereby  committed,  and  the 
proprietors  of  the  tea  entitled  to  damages,  the  courts 
of  law  were  open,  and  judges  appointed  by  the  crown- 
presided  in  them.  The  East  India  Company,  how 
ever,  did  not  think  proper  to  commence  any  suits,  nor 
did  they  even  demand  satisfaction,  either  from  indi 
viduals  or  from  the  community  in  general.  The  min 
istry,  it  seems,  officiously  made  the  case  their  own, 
and  the  great  council  of  the  nation  descended  to  inter 
meddle  with  a  dispute  about  private  property.  Divers 
papers,  letters,  and  o/ther  unauthenticated  ex  parte 
evidence,  were  laid  before  them.  Neither  the  persons 
who  destroyed  the  tea,  nor  the  people  of  Boston,  were 
called  upon  to  answer  the  complaint. 

The  ministry,  incensed  by  being  disappointed  in  a 
favorite  scheme,  were  determined  to  recur  from  the 
little  arts  of  finesse  to  open  force  and  unmanly  vio 
lence.  The  port  of  Boston  was  blocked  up  by  a  fleet, 
and  an  army  placed  in  the  town.  Their  trade  was  to 


264  JAY, 

be  suspended,  and  thousands  reduced  to  the  necessity 
of  gaining  subsistence  from  charity,  till  they  should 
submit  to  pass  under  the  yoke  and  consent  to  become 
slaves,  by  confessing  the  omnipotence  of  Parliament, 
and  acquiescing  in  whatever  disposition  they  might 
think  proper  to  make  of  their  lives  and  property. 

Let  justice  and  humanity  cease  to  be  the  boast  of 
your  nation!  Consult  your  history;  examine  your 
records  of  former  transactions ;  nay,  turn  to  the  annals 
of  the  many  arbitrary  states  and  kingdoms  that  sur 
round  you,  and  show  us  a  single  instance  of  'men  be 
ing  condemned  to  suffer  for  imputed  crimes,  unheard, 
unquestioned,  and  without  even  the  specious  formality 
of  a  trial;  and  that,  too,  by  laws  made  expressly  for 
the  purpose  and  which  had  no  existence  at  the  time 
of  the  fact  committed. 

If  it  be  difficult  to  reconcile  these  proceedings  to  the . 
genius  and  temper  of  your  laws  and  constitution,  the 
task  will  become  more  arduous  wrhen  we  call  upon  our 
ministerial  enemies  to  justify,  not  only  condemning 
men  untried  and  by  hearsay,  but  involving  the  inno 
cent  in  one  common  punishment  with  the  guilty,  and 
for  the  act  of  thirty  or  forty  to  bring  poverty,  distress, 
and  calamity  on  thirty  thousand  souls,  and  those  not 
your  enemies,  but  your  friends,  brethren,  and  fellow 
subjects. 

It  would  be  some  consolation  to  us  if  the  catalogue 
of  American  oppressions  ended  here.  It  gives  us 
pain  to  be  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  reminding  you 
that  under  the  confidence  reposed  in  the  faith  of  gov 
ernment,  pledged  in  a  royal  charter  from  a  British 
sovereign,  the  forefathers  of  the  present  inhabitants 


J.  C.  CALHOUN. 


JAY.  265 

of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  left  their  former  habita 
tions  and  established  that  great,  flourishing,  and  loyal 
colony. 

Without  incurring  or  being  charged  with  a  for 
feiture  of  their  rights,  without  being  heard,  without 
being  tried,  without  law  and  without  justice,  by  an 
act  of  Parliament  their  charter  is  destroyed,  their 
liberties  violated,  their  constitution  and  form  of  gov 
ernment  changed ;  and  all  this  upon  no  better  pretence 
than  because  in  one  of  their  towns  a  trespass  was  com 
mitted  on  some  merchandise  said  to  belong  to  one  of 
the  companies,  and  because  the  ministry  were  of 
opinion  that  such  high  political  regulations  were  nec 
essary  to  compel  due  subordination  and  obedience  to 
their  mandates. 

Nor  are  these  the  only  capital  grievances  under 
which  we  labor.  We  might  tell  of  dissolute,  weak, 
and  wicked  governors  having  been  set  over  us;  of 
legislatures  being  suspended  for  asserting  the  rights 
of  British  subjects;  of  needy  and  ignorant  dependents 
on  great  men  advanced  to  the  seats  of  justice  and  to 
other  places  of  trust  and  importance;  of  hard  restric 
tions  on  commerce,  and  a  great  variety  of  lesser  evils 
the  recollection  of  which  is  almost  lost  under  the 
weight  and  pressure  of  greater  and  more  poignant 
calamities. 

Now  mark  the  progression  of  the  ministerial  plan 
for  enslaving  us. 

Well  aware  that  such  hardy  attempts  to  take  our 
property  from  us ;  to  deprive  us  of  that  valuable  right 
of  trial  by  jury;  to  seize  our  persons,  and  carry  us  for 
trial  to  Great  Britain ;  to  blockade  our  ports ;  to  destroy 


266  JAY. 

our  charters  and  change  our  forms  of  government, — 
would  occasion,  and  had  already  occasioned,  great 
discontent  in  the  colonies,  which  might  produce  op 
position  to  these  measures,  an  act  was  passed  to  pro 
tect,  indemnify,  and  screen  from  punishment  such  as 
might  be  guilty  even  of  murder  in  endeavoring  to 
carry  their  oppressive  edicts  into  execution;  and  by 
another  act  the  dominion  of  Canada  is  to  be  so  ex 
tended,  modelled,  and  governed  as  that,  by  being  dis 
united  from  us,  detached  from  our  interests,  by  civil 
as  well  as  religipus  prejudices;  that  by  their  numbers 
daily  swelling  with  Catholic  emigrants  from  Europe, 
and  by  their  devotion  to  an  administration  so  friendly 
to  their  religion,  they  might  become  formidable  to  us, 
and  on  occasion  be  fit  instruments,  in  the  hands  of 
power,  to  reduce  the  ancient  free  Protestant  colonies 
to  the  same  state  of  slavery  with  themselves. 

This  was  evidently  the  object  of  the  act;  and  in 
this  view,  being  extremely  dangerous  to  our  liberty 
and  quiet,  we  cannot  forbear  complaining  of  it  as  hos 
tile  to  British  America.  Superadded  to  these  consid 
erations  we  cannot  help  deploring  the  unhappy  con 
dition  to  which  it  has  reduced  the  many  English 
settlers  who,  encouraged  by  the  royal  proclamation 
promising  the  enjoyment  of  all  their  rights,  have  pur 
chased  estates  in  that  country.  They  are  now  the 
subjects  of  an  arbitrary  government,  deprived  of  trial 
by  jury,  and,  when  imprisoned,  cannot  claim  the  ben 
efit  of  the  habeas  corpus  act — that  great  bulwark  and 
palladium  of  English  liberty.  Nor  can  we  suppress 
our  astonishment  that  a  British  Parliament  should 
<ever  consent  to  establish  in  that  country  a  religion  that 


JAY.  267 

has  deluged  your  island  in  blood  and  dispersed  im 
piety,  bigotry,  persecution,  murder,  and  rebellion 
through  every  part  of  the  world. 

This  being  a  true  state  of  facts,  let  us  beseech  you 
to  consider  to  what  end  they  may  lead. 

Admit  that  the  ministry,  by  the  powers  of  Britain 
and  the  aid  of  our  Roman  Catholic  neighbors,  should 
be  able  to  carry  the  point  of  taxation  and  reduce  us  to 
a  state  of  perfect  humiliation  and  slavery:  such  an 
enterprise  would  doubtless  make  some  addition  to 
your  national  debt,  which  already  presses  down  your 
liberties  and  fills  you  with  pensioners  and  placemen. 
We  presume,  also,  that  your  commerce  will  somewhat 
be  diminished.  However,  suppose  you  should  prove 
victorious,  in  what  condition  will  you  then  be  ?  What 
advantages  or  laurels  will  you  reap  from  such  a  con 
quest  ? 

May  not  a  ministry  with  the  same  armies  enslave 
you?  It  may  be  said  you  will  cease  to  pay  them — but 
remember  the  taxes  from  America,  the  wealth  and 
we  may  add,  the  men,  and  particularly  the  Roman 
Catholics  of  this  vast  continent,  will  then  be  in  the 
power  of  your  enemies;  nor  will  you  have  any  reason 
to  expect  that  after  making  slaves  of  us  many  among 
us  should  refuse  to  assist  in  reducing  you  to  the  same 
abject  state. 

Do  not  treat  this  as  chimerical.  Know  that  in  less 
than  half  a  century  the  quitrents  reserved  to  the  crown 
from  the  numberless  grants  of  this  vast  continent  will 
pour  large  streams  of  wealth  into  the  royal  coffers, 
and  if  to  this  be  added  the  power  of  taxing  America 
at  pleasure,  the  crown  will  be  rendered  independent 


268  JAY. 

of  you  for  supplies,  and  will  possess  more  treasure 
than  may  be  necessary  to  purchase  the  remains  of  lib 
erty  in  your  island.  In  a  word,  take  care  that  you  do 
not  fall  into  the  pit  that  is  preparing-  for  us. 

We  believe  there  is  yet  much  virtue,  much  justice, 
and  much  public  spirit  in  the  English  nation.  To  that 
justice  we  now  appeal.  You  have  been  told  that  we 
are  seditious,  impatient  of  government,  and  desirous 
of  independency.  Be  assured  that  these  are  not  facts, 
but  calumnies.  Permit  us  to  be  as  free  as  yourselves, 
and  we  shall  ever  esteem  a  union  with  you  to  be  our 
greatest  glory  and  our  greatest  happiness;  we  shall 
ever  be  ready  to  contribute  all  in  our  power  to  the 
welfare  of  the  empire ;  we  shall  consider  your  enemies 
as  our  enemies  and  your  interest  as  our  own. 

But  if  you  are  determined  that  your  ministers  shall 
wantonly  sport  with  the  rights  of  mankind;  if  neither 
the  voice  of  justice,  the  dictates  of  the  law,  the  prin 
ciples  of  the  constitution,  or  the  suggestions  of  hu 
manity,  can  restrain  your  hands  from  shedding  human 
blood  in  such  an  impious  cause,  we  must  then  tell  you 
that  we  will  never  submit  to  be  hewers  of  wood  or 
drawers  of  water  for  any  ministry  or  nation  in  the 
world. 

Place  us  in  the  same  situation  that  we  were  in  at 
the  close  of  the  last  war,  and  our  former  harmony 
will  be  restored. 

But  lest  the  same  supineness,  and  the  same  inatten 
tion  to  our  common  interest,  which  you  have  for  sev 
eral  years  shown,  should  continue,  we  think  it  prudent 
to  anticipate  the  consequences. 

By  the  destruction  of  the  trade  of  Boston  the  min- 


JAY.  269 

istry  have  endeavored  to  induce  submission  to  their 
measures.  The  like  fate  may  befall  us  all.  We  will 
endeavor,  therefore,  to  live  without  trade,  and  recur 
for  subsistence  to  the  fertility  and  bounty  of  our  na 
tive  soil,  w7hich  will  afford  us  all  the  necessaries  and 
some  of  the  conveniences  of  life.  We  have  suspended 
our  importation  from  Great  Britain  and  Ireland;  and, 
in  less  than  a  year's  time,  unless  our  grievances  should 
be  redressed,  shall  discontinue  our  exports  to  those 
kingdoms  and  the  West  Indies. 

It  is  with  the  utmost  regret,  however,  that  we  find 
ourselves  compelled,  by  the  overruling  principles  of 
self-preservation,  to  adopt  measures  detrimental  in 
their  consequences,  to  numbers  of  our  fellow  subjects 
in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  But  we  hope  that  the 
magnanimity  and  justice  of  the  British  nation  will 
furnish  a  Parliament  of  such  wisdom,  independence, 
and  public  spirit  as  may  save  the  violated  rights  of 
the  whole  empire  from  the  devices  of  wicked  minis 
ters  and  evil  counsellors,  whether  in  or  out  of  office; 
and  thereby  restore  that  harmony,  friendship,  and 
fraternal  affection  between  all  the  inhabitants  of  his 
Majesty's  kingdoms  and  territories  so  ardently  wished 
for  by  every  true  and  honest  American. 


2/0  '  LIVINGSTON. 

Livingston,  Robert,  R.,  a  famous  American  jurist  and 
orator,  born  in  New  York  City,  Nov.  27,  1746;  died  at 
Chantilly,  New  York,  Feb.  26,  1813.  He  was  a  prosperous 
lawyer  in  his  native  city  at  the  outbreak  of  the  American 
Revolution,  but  lost  his  office  as  recorder  on  account  of  his 
patriotic  opinions.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  as  the  first  chancellor  of  the  State  of  New 
York  administered  the  oath  of  office  to  Washington  at  his 
inauguration  in  1789.  While  minister  to  France,  1801-04, 
he  aided  in  securing  Louisiana  to  the  Union,  and  he  was  on 
most  friendly  terms  with  Bonaparte.  He  was  interested  in 
Fulton's  early  experiments  with  steam  navigation,  and  as  an 
advocate  of  agricultural  interests,  was  one  of  the  first  to 
introduce  merino  sheep-raising  into  the  United  States. 


ORATION   BEFORE  THE   CINCINNATI 

DELIVERED     AT     THE     CITY     HALL,     NEW     YORK,     JULY 

4,  1787- 

I  COULD  have  wished,  gentlemen,  that  the  task  I  am 
now  about  to  perform  had  been  assigned  to  some 
abler  speaker ;  and  in  that  view  I  long  since  tendered 
my  apology  for  declining  it  and  hoped  till  lately  that 
it  had  been  accepted.  Disappointed  in  this  hope,  and 
unwilling  to  treat  any  mark  of  your  favor  with  neg 
lect,  I  determined  to  obey  your  commands,  although 
I  was  satisfied  that  in  the  execution  of  them  I  should 
not  answer  your  expectations.  There  is  a  style  of 
eloquence  adapted  to  occasions  of  this  kind,  to  which 
I  feel  myself  unequal ;  a  style  which  requires  the  glow 
ing  imagination  of  younger  speakers,  who,  coming 
recently  from  the  schools  of  rhetoric,  know  how  to 


LIVINGSTON.  271 

dress  their  sentiments  in  all  its  flowery  ornaments. 
The  turbulence  of  the  times  since  I  first  entered  upon 
public  life,  and  the  necessity  they  imposed  upon  those 
who  engaged  in  them  of  attending  rather  to  things 
than  words,  will,  I  fear,  render  me,  if  not  a  useless, 
at  least  an  unpolished  speaker. 

If  the  mind  dwells  with  pleasure  on  interesting 
events;  if  the  soul  pants  to  emulate  the  noble  deeds 
it  contemplates;  if  virtue  derives  new  force  from  the 
successful  struggles  of  the  virtuous,  it  is  wise  to  set 
apart  certain  seasons  when,  freed  from  meaner  cares, 
we  commemorate  events  which  have  contributed  to 
the  happiness  of  mankind  or  afford  examples  worthy 
their  imitation.  What  are  we  this  day  called  upon  to 
commemorate?  Some  signal  victory  in  which  the 
victor  weeps  the  loss  of  friends  and  humanity  mourns 
over  the  graves  of  the  vanquished  ?  The  birth  of  some 
prince  whom  force,  fraud,  or  accident  has  entitled  to 
a  throne?  Or  even  that  of  some  patriot  who  has 
raised  the  reputation  and  defended  the  rights  of  his 
country?  No,  gentleman,  a  nobler  subject  than  the 
splendor  of  victories  or  the  birth  of  princes  demands 
our  attention.  We  are  called  upon  to  commemorate 
the  successful  battles  of  freedom  and  the  birth  of  na 
tions. 

It  may  be  expected,  and  indeed  I  believe  it  is  usual 
on  such  occasions,  that  I  should  tread  the  steps  we 
have  taken  from  the  dawn  of  oppression  to  the  bright 
sunshine  of  independence;  that  I  should  celebrate  the 
praise  of  patriots  who  have  been  actors  in  the  glori 
ous  scene;  and  more  particularly  that  I  should  lead 
you  to  the  shrines  of  those  that  have  offered  up  their 


2/2  LIVINGSTON. 

lives  in  support  of  their  principles  and  sealed  with 
their  blood  your  charters  of  freedom. 

Had  I  no  other  object  in  view  than  to  amuse  you 
and  indulge  my  own  feelings  I  should  take  this  path. 
For  what  task  more  delightful  than  to  contemplate  the 
successful  struggles  of  virtue ;  to  see  it  at  one  moment 
panting  under  the  grasp  of  oppression  and  rising  in 
the  next  with  renewed  strength;  as  if,  like  the  giant 
son  of  earth,  she  had  acquired  vigor  from  the  fall ;  to 
see  hope  and  disappointment,  plenty  and  want,  defeats 
and  victories,  following  each  other  in  rapid  succes 
sion,  and  contributing,  like  light  and  shade,  to  the  em 
bellishment  of  the  piece ! 

What  more  soothing  to  the  soft  and  delicate  emo 
tions  of  humanity  than  to  wander  with  folded  arms 
and  slow  and  pensive  step  amidst  the  graves  of  de 
parted  heroes,  to  indulge  the  mingled  emotions  of 
grief  and  admiration;  at  one  moment  giving  way  to 
private  sorrow  and  lamenting  the  loss  of  a  friend,  a 
relation,  a  brother;  in  the  next  glowing  with  patriot 
warmth,  gazing  with  ardor  on  their  wounds  and  in 
voking  their  spirits  while  we  ask  of  heaven  to  inspire  " 
us  with  equal  fortitude!  But,  however  pleasing  this 
task,  the  desire  of  being  useful  impels  me,  at  this  in 
teresting  moment,  to  forego  this  pleasure;  to  call  you 
from  this  tender  scene;  to  remind  you  that  you  are 
the  citizens  of  a  free  state;  to  bid  you  rejoice  with 
Roman  pride  that  those  you  love  have  done  their 
duty;  to  exhort  you  to  crown  the  glorious  work  they 
have  begun ;  for,  alas !  my  friends,  though  they  have 
nobly  performed  the  part  assigned  them,  the  work  is 
still  unfinished  and  much  remains  for  us  to  do.  It 


LIVINGSTON.  273 

may  not,  therefore,  be  improper,  amidst  the  congratu 
lations  I  make  you  on  this  day — this  day,  distinguished 
in  the  annals  of  fame  for  the  triumph  of  freedom  and 
the  birth  of  nations — to  inquire  how  far  it  has  been 
productive  of  the  advantages  we  might  reasonably 
have  expected,  and  where  they  have  fallen  short  of 
our  expectations. 

To  investigate  the  causes  that  have  conduced  to  our 
disappointment;  two  objects  demand  our  attention, — 
our  internal  and  federal  governments :  either,  to  those 
who  are  disposed  to  view  only  the  gloomy  side  of  the 
picture,  will  afford  sufficient  matter  for  censure  and 
too  much  cause  of  uneasiness.  Many  desponding 
spirits,  misled  by  their  reflections,  have  ceased  to  re 
joice  in  independence  and  to  doubt  whether  it  is  to  be 
considered  as  a  blessing.  God  forbid  that  there 
should  be  any  such  among  us.  For  whatever  may  be 
the  pressure  of  our  present  evils,  they  will  cease  to 
operate  when  we  resolve  to  remove  them ;  the  remedy 
is  within  our  reach,  and  I  have  sufficient  confidence  in 
our  fortitude  to  hope  that  it  will  be  applied. 

Let  those,  however,  who  know  not  the  value  of  our 
present  situation  contrast  it  with  the  state  of  servitude 
to  which  we  should  have  been  reduced  had  we  pa 
tiently  submitted  to  the  yoke  of  Britain.  She  had  long 
since  seen  our  case  with  envy  and  our  strength  with 
jealousy.  Loaded  with  debt,  she  wished  to  share  that 
affluence  which  she  attributed  to  her  protection  rather 
than  to  our  industry.  Tenacious  of  her  supposed  su 
premacy,  she  could  not  be  indifferent  to  those  increas 
ing  numbers  which  threatened  its  subversion.  Avarice 
and  timidity  concurred  in  framing  a  system  of  despot- 


2/4  LIVINGSTON. 

ism  which,  but  for  our  resistance,  would  have  reduced 
us  to  the  vilest  subjection.  Having  resisted,  accom 
modation  was  vain;  pretences  would  not  have  been 
wanting  to  ruin  those  that  had  been  active  in  oppos 
ition.  Disputes  among  ourselves  would  have  been 
encouraged,  and  advantages  derived  from  our  dis 
union  would  have  enabled  her  ultimately  to  attain  her 
object.  No  alternative  was  left  but  independence  or 
abject  submission.  We  have  chosen  as  became  a  wise 
and  generous  people.  Let  slaves  or  cowards  disap 
prove  the  choice. 

Our  constitutions  are  formed  to  insure  the  happi 
ness  of  a  virtuous  nation.  They  guard  against  the  tu 
mult  and  confusion  of  unwieldy  popular  assemblies, 
while  they  yielded  to  every  citizen  his  due  share  of 
power.  They  preserve  the  administration  of  justice 
pure  and  unbiassed,  by  the  independence  of  the 
judges.  They  prevent  abuses  in  the  execution  of  the 
laws  by  committing  the  care  of  enforcing  them  to 
magistrates  who  have  no  share  in  making  nor  voice  in 
expounding  them. 

In  these  circumstances  they  excel  the  boasted 
models  of  Greece  or  Rome,  and  those  of  all  other 
nations,  in  having  precisely  marked  out  the  power  of 
the  government  and  the  rights  of  the  people.  With 
us  the  law  is  written :  no  party  can  justify  their  errors 
under  former  abuses  or  doubtful  precedents.  With 
these  constitutions,  I  shall  be  asked  how  it  has  hap 
pened  that  the  evils  hinted  at  continue  to  exist.  I 
shall  endeavor  to  answer  this  inquiry,  since  my  object 
in  treating  of  this  subject  is  to  impress  upon  you  the 
obligations  we  are  under  as  citizens,  as  men  whose 


LIVINGSTON.  2/5 

« 

past  services  entitle  us  to  some  weight  in  the  com 
munity,  zealously  to  unite  in  promoting  a  constitu 
tional  reform  of  every  abuse  that  affects  the  govern 
ment. 

Our  constitutions  being  purely  democratic,  the 
people  are  sovereign  and  absolute.  The  faults  of  ab 
solute  governments  are  to  be  charged  to  the  sov 
ereign:  in  ours  they  must  be  traced  back  to  the 
people. 

If  our  executive  has  sufficient  energy,  if  the  judicial 
is  competent  to  the  administration  of  justice,  if  our 
legislative  is  so  formed  as  that  no  law  can  pass  without 
due  deliberation,  all  the  ends  of  government  are  an 
swered  so  far  as  they  depend  upon  the  constitution. 
If  still  it  falls  short  of  expectation,  the  evils  must  be 
sought  in  the  administration:  and  since  every  person 
concerned  in  that  is  either  mediately  or  immediately 
chosen  by  the  people  they  may  change  it  at  pleasure. 

What  can  be  devised  more  perfect  than  that  consti 
tution  which  puts  in  the  power  of  those  who  experi 
ence  the  effects  of  a  maladministration  to  prevent 
their  continuance;  not  by  mad,  tumultuous,  and  ir 
regular  acts,  as  in  the  ancient  republics,  but  by  such 
as  are  cool,  deliberate,  and  constitutional?  If  they 
still  exist,  they  must  be  charged  to  the  negligence  of 
the  people,  who,  after  violent  agitation,  have  sunk  into 
such  a  state  of  torpor  and  indifference  with  respect  to 
government  as  to  be  careless  into  what  hands  they 
trust  their  dearest  rights. 

When  we  choose  an  agent  to  manage  our  private 
affairs,  an  executor  to  distribute  our  estate,  we  are 
solicitous  about  the  integrity  and  ability  of  those  we 


LIVINGSTON. 

entrust :  we  consult  our  friends :  we  make  the  choice 
after  due  deliberation.-  Is  it  not  astonishing  that 
when  we  are  to  elect  men  whose  power  extends  to  our 
liberty,  our  property,  and  our  lives  we  should  be  so 
totally  indifferent  that  not  one  in  t»en  of  us  tenders  his 
vote  ? 

Can  it  be  thought  that  an  enlightened  people  be 
lieve  the  science  of  government  level  to  the  meanest 
capacity — that  experience,  application,  and  education 
are  unnecessary  to  those  who  are  to  frame  laws  for 
the  government  of  the  state?  And  yet,  are  instances 
wanting  in  which  these  have  been  proscribed  and  their 
place  supplied  by  those  insidious  arts  which  have  ren 
dered  them  suspected  ?  Are  past  services  the  passport 
to  future  honors?  Or  have  you  yourselves,  gentle 
men,  escaped  the  general  obloquy?  Are  you  not  cal 
umniated  by  those  you  deem  unworthy  of  your  so 
ciety?  Are  you  not  even  shunned  by  some  who 
should  wear  with  pride  and  pleasure  this  badge  of 
former  services? 

You  have  learned  in  the  school  of  adversity  to  ap 
preciate  characters.  You  are  not  formed,  whoever 
may  direct,  to  promote  measures  you  disapprove. 
Men  used  to  command  and  to  obey  are  sensible  of  the 
value  of  government  and  will  not  consent  to  its  de 
basement.  Your  services  entitle  you  to  the  respect 
and  favor  of  a  grateful  people.  Envy  and  the  am 
bition  of  the  unworthy  concur  to  rob  you  of  the  rank 
you  merit. 

To  these  causes  we  owe  the  cloud  that  obscures  our 
internal  governments.  But  let  us  not  despair :  the 
sun  of  science  is  beginning  to  rise ;  and,  as  new  light 


LIVINGSTON.  277 

breaks  in  upon  the  minds  of  our  fellow  citizens,  that 
cloud  will  be  dispelled. 

Having  observed  that  our  internal  constitutions  are 
adequate  to  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  formed, 
and  that  the  inconveniences  we  have  some  time  felt 
ttnder  them  were  imputable  to  causes  which  it  was 
in  our  power  to  remove,  I  might  perhaps  add  mat  the 
continuance  of  those  evils  is  a  proof  of  the  happiness 
these  governments  impart;  since,  had  they  not  been 
more  than  balanced  by  advantages,  they  would  have 
pressed  with  such  weight  as  to  have  compelled  the 
people  to  apply  the  remedy  the  constitution  affords. 

But  when  I  turn  my  eyes  to  the  other  great  object 
of  a  patriot's  attention,  our  federal  government,  I  con 
fess  to  you,  my  friends,  I  sicken  at  the  sight.  Noth 
ing  presents  itself  to  -my  view  but  a  nerveless  council, 
united  by  imaginary  ties,  brooding  over  ideal  decrees 
which  caprice  or  fancy  is  at  pleasure  to  annul  or  exe 
cute !  I  see  trade  languish;  public  credit  expire;  and 
that  glory  which  is  not  less  necessary  to  the  prosperity 
of  a  nation  than  reputation  to  individuals  a  victim  to 
opprobium  and  disgrace. 

Here,  my  friends,  you  are  particularly  interested; 
for  I  believe  I  should  do  little  justice  to  the  motives 
that  induced  you  to  brave  the  dangers  and  hardships 
of  a  ten  years'  war  if  I  supposed  you  had  nothing 
more  in  view  than  humble  peace  and  ignominious  ob 
scurity.  Brave  souls  are  influenced  by  nobler  mo 
tives;  and  I  persuade  myself  that  the  rank  and  glory 
of  the  nation  you  have  established  were  among  the 
strongest  that  nerved  your  arms  and  invigorated  your 
hearts.  Let  us  not,  then,  my  friends,,  lose  sight  of  this 


278  LIVINGSTON. 

splendid  object;  having  pursued  it  through  fields  of 
blood  let  us  not  relinquish  the  chase  when  nothing  is 
necessary  to  its  attainment  but  union,  firmness,  and 
temperate  deliberation. 

In  times  of  extreme  danger,  whoever  has  the  cour 
age  to  seize  the  helm  may  command  the  ship :  each 
mariner,  distrusting  his  own  skill,  is  ready  to  repose 
upon  that  of  others.  Congress,  not  attending  to  this 
reflection,  were  misled  by  the  implicit  respect  that, 
during  the  war,  was  paid  to  their  recommendations; 
and,  without  looking  forward  to  times  when  the  cir 
cumstances  which  made  the  basis  of  their  authority 
should  no  longer  exist,  they  formed  a  constitution  only 
adapted  to  such  circumstances.  Weak  in  itself,  a  va 
riety  of  causes  have  conspired  to  render  it  weaker. 

Some  States  have  totally  neglected  their  represen 
tation  in  Congress;  while  some  others  have  been 
inattentive,  in  their  choice  of  delegates,  to  those  qual 
ities  which  are  essential  to  the  support  of  its  reputa 
tion:  objects  of  some  moment  where  authority  is 
founded  on  opinion  only.  To  these  I  am  sorry, 
gentlemen,  to  add  a  third,  which  operates  with  pe 
culiar  force  in  some  States :  the  love  of  power,  of 
which  the  least  worthy  are  always  the  most  tenacious. 
To  deal  out  a  portion  of  it  to  Congress  would  be  to 
share  that  which  some  among  those  who  are  elected 
by  popular  favor  already  find  too  little  for  their  own 
ambition.  To  preserve  it,  rulers  of  free  States  prac 
tise  a  lesson  they  have  received  from  eastern  tyrants; 
and  as  these,  to  preserve  the  succession,  put  out  the 
eyes  of  all  that  may  approach  the  seat  of  power,  so 


LIVINGSTON.  279 

those  strive  to  blind  the  people,  whose  discernment, 
they  fear,  may  expel  them  from  it. 

I  will  not  wear  your  patience  and  my  own  by  con 
tending  with  those  chimeras  they  have  raised  to  fright 
the  people  from  remedying  the  only  real  defect  of 
this  government.  Nor  will  I  dwell  upon  that  wretched 
system  of  policy  which  has  sunk  the  interest  and  repu 
tation  of  such  States  in  the  great  council  of  America, 
and  drawn  upon  them  the  hatred  and  contempt  of  their 
neighbors.  Who  will  deny  that  the  most  serious  evils 
daily  flow  from  the  debility  of  our  federal  constitu 
tion?  Who  but  owns  that  we  are  at  this  moment  col 
onies,  for  every  purpose  but  that  of  internal  taxation, 
to  the  nation  from  which  we  vainly  hoped  our  sword 
had  freed  us? 

Who  but  sees  with  indignation  British  ministers 
Uaily  dictating  laws  for  the  destruction  of  our  com 
merce?  Who  but  laments  the  ruin  of  that  brave, 
hardy,  and  generous  race  of  men  who  are  necessary 
for  its  support  ?  Who  but  feels  that  we  are  degraded 
from  the  rank  we  ought  to  hold  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth, — despised  by  some,  maltreated  by  others, 
and  •  unable  to  defend  ourselves  against  the  cruel 
depredations  of  the  most  contemptible  pirates?  At 
this  moment — yes,  great  God!  at  this  moment — some 
among  those,  perhaps,  who  have  labored  for  the  estab 
lishment  of  our  freedom,  are  groaning  in  barbarian 
bondage.  '  Hands  that  may  have  wielded  the  s\vcrd  in 
our  defence  are  loaded  with  chains.  Toilsome  tasks, 
gloomy  prisons,  whips  and  tortures,  are  the  portion 
of  men  who  have  triumphed  with  us  and  exulted  in 


280  LIVINGSTON. 

the  idea  of  giving  being  to  nations  and  freedom  to  un 
numbered  generations! 

These,  sirs,  these  are  a  few  of  the  many  evils  that 
result  from  the  want  of  a  federal  government.  Our 
internal1  constitutions  may  make  us  happy  at  home,  but 
nothing  short  of  a  federal  one  can  render  us  safe  or 
respectable  abroad.  Let  us  not,  however,  in  our 
eagerness  to  attain  one,  forget  to  preserve  the  other 
inviolate;  for  better  is  distress  abroad  than  tyranny 
and  anarchy  at  home.  A  precious  deposit  is  given  into 
our  keeping :  we  hold  in  our  hands  the  fate  of  future 
generations.  While  we  acknowledge  that  no  govern 
ment  can  exist  without  confidence  in  the  governing 
power,  let  us  also  remember  that  none  can  remain 
free  where  that  confidence  is  incautiously  bestowed. 

How,  gentlemen,  shall  I  apologize  for  having  ob 
truded  this  serious  address  upon  the  gayeties  of  this 
happy  day  ?  I  told  you,  and  told  you  truly,  that  I  was 
ill  qualified  to  play  the  holiday  orator;  and  I  might 
have  added  that  the  joy  of  this  day  is  ever  attended, 
in  my  mind,  with  a  thousand  mingled  emotions.  Re 
flection  on  the  past  brings  to  memory  a  variety  of  ten 
der  and  interesting  events;  while  hope  and  fear, 
anxiety  and  pleasure,  alternately  possess  me  when  I 
endeavor  to  pierce  the  veil  of  futurity.  But  never, 
never  before  have  they  pressed  upon  me  with  the 
weight  they  do  at  present. 

I  feel  that  some  change  is  necessary;  and  yet  I 
dread  lest  the  demon  of  jealousy  should  prevent  such 
change;  or  the  restless  spirit  of  innovation  should 
carry  us  beyond  what  is  necessary.  I  look  round  for 
aid ;  I  see  in  you  a  band  of  patriots — the  supporters  of 


LIVINGSTON.  28l 

your  country's  rights :  I  feel  myself  indebted  to  you 
for  the  freedom  we  enjoy :  I  know  that  your  emotions 
cannot  be  different  from  my  own;  and  I  strive,  by 
giving  you  the  same  views  on  these  important  subjects, 
to  unite  your  efforts  in  the  common  cause.  Let  us, 
then,  preserve  pure  and  perfect  those  principles  of 
friendship  for  each  other,  of  love  for  our  country,  of 
respect  for  the  Union,  which  supported  us  in  our  past 
difficulties.  Let  us  reject  the  trammels  of  party,  and, 
as  far  as  our  efforts  will  go,  call  every  man  to  the  post 
his  virtues  and  abilities  entitle  him  to  occupy. 

Let  us  watch  with  vigilant  attention  over  the  con- 
duct  of  those  in  power;  but  let  us  not  with  coward 
caution  restrain  their  efforts  to  be  useful;  and  let  us 
implore  that  omnipotent  Being  who  gave  us  strength 
and  wisdom  in  the  hour  of  danger  to  direct  our  great 
council  to  that  happy  mean  which  may  afford  us  re 
spect  and  security  abroad  and  peace,  liberty,  and  pros 
perity  at  home. 


282  MADISON. 

Madison,  James,  a  distinguished  American  statesman,, 
fourth  President  of  the  United  States,  born  at  Port  Con- 
way,  Va.,  March  16,  1751  ;  died  at  Montpelier,  Va.,  June  28, 
1836.  He  sympathized  heartily  with  the  popular  discontent 
preceding  the  American  Revolution,  and  was  elected  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Virginia  Convention  in  1776,  and  of  the  Council 
of  State  the  next  year.  He  also  served  in  Congress,  1780- 
84,  and  was  one  of  the  delegates  to  the  Constitutional  Con 
vention  of  1789,  his  notes  of  the  proceedings  .on  that  occa 
sion  forming  our  most  trustworthy  account  of  what  took 
place.  With  Jay  and  Hamilton  he  was  associated  in  writing 
The  Federalist.  He  was  President  of  the  United  States  for 
two  terms,  1809-17,  the  second  war  with  England  occurring 
during  his  presidency.  After  the  close  of  his  second  term 
he  lived  in  retirement.  His  state  papers,  which  are  dignified 
in  style,  are  very  numerous,  and  have  been  published  in  six 
volumes. 


ON  THE  EXPEDIENCY  OF  ADOPTING  THE 
FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 

CONVENTION  OF  VIRGINIA,  JUNE  6,   1788 

Mr.  Chairman  : 

IN  WHAT  I  am  about  to  offer  to  this  assembly,  I 
shall  not  attempt  to  make  impressions  by  any  ardent 
professions  of  zeal  for  the  public  welfare.  We  know 
that  the  principles  of  every  man  will  be,  and  ought  to 
be,  judged  not  by  his  professions  and  declarations, 
but  by  his  conduct.  By  this  criterion,  I  wish,  in  com 
mon  with  every  other  member,  to  be  judged ;  and  even 
though  it  should  prove  unfavorable  to  my  reputation, 
yet  it  is  a  criterion  from  which  I  by  no  means  would 


MADISON.  283 

depart,  nor  could  if  I  would.  Comparisons  have  been 
made  between  the  friends  of  this  Constitution  and 
those  who  oppose  it.  Although  I  disapprove  of  such 
comparisons,  I  trust  that  in  everything  that  regards 
truth,  honor,  candor,  and  rectitude  of  motives,  the 
friends  of  this  system,  here  and  in  other  States,  are 
not  inferior  to  its  opponents.  But  professions  of  at 
tachment  to  the  public  good,  and  comparisons  of  par 
ties,  at  all  times  invidious,  ought  not  to  govern  or  in 
fluence  us  now.  We  ought,  sir,  to  examine  the  Con 
stitution  exclusively  on  its  own  merits.  We  ought  to 
inquire  whether  it  will  promote  the  public  happiness; 
and  its  aptitude  to  produce  that  desirable  object  ought 
to  be  the  exclusive  subject  of  our  researches.  In 
this  pursuit,  we  ought  to  address  our  arguments  not 
to  the  feelings  and  passions,  but  to  those  understand 
ings  and  judgments  which  have  been  selected,  by  the 
people  of  this  country,  to  decide  that  great  question 
by  a  calm  and  rational  investigation.  I  hope  that  gen 
tlemen,  in  displaying  their  abilities  on  this  occasion, 
will,  instead  of  giving  opinions  and  making  assertions, 
condescend  to  prove  and  demonstrate,  by  fair  and 
regular  discussion.  It  gives  me  pain  to  hear  gentle 
men  continually  distorting  the  natural  construction  of 
language.  Assuredly,  it  is  sufficient  if  any  human 
production  can  stand  a  fair  discussion.  Before  I  pro 
ceed  to  make  some  additions  to  the  reasons  which  have 
been  adduced  by  my  honorable  friend  over  the  way, 
I  take  the  liberty  to  make  some  observations  on  what 
was  said  by  another  gentleman  (Mr.  Henry).  He 
told  us  that  this  Constitution  ought  to  be  rejected,  be 
cause,  in  his  opinion,  it  endangered  the  public  liberty 


284  MADISON. 

in  many  instances.  Give  me  leave  to  make  one  an 
swer  to  that  observation — let  the  dangers  with  which 
this  system  is  supposed  to  be  replete,  be  clearly'pointed 
out.  If  any  dangerous  and  unnecessary  powers  be 
given  to  the  general  legislature,  let  them  be  plainly 
demonstrated,  and  let  us  not  rest  satisfied  with  gen 
eral  assertions  of  dangers,  without  proof,  without  ex 
amination.  If  powers  be  necessary,  apparent  danger 
is  not  a  sufficient  reason  against  conceding  them.  He 
has  suggested  that  licentiousness  has  seldom  produced 
the  loss  of  liberty;  but  that  tyranny  of  rulers  has  al 
most  always  effected  it.  Since  the  general  civiliza 
tion  of  mankind,  I  believe  there  are  more  instances 
of  the  abridgment  of  the  freedom  of  the  people  by 
gradual  and  silent  encroachments  of  those  in  power, 
than  by  violent  and  sudden  usurpations ;  but  on  a  can 
did  examination  of  history,  we  shall  find  that  tur 
bulence,  violence,  and  abuse  of  power,  by  the  majority 
trampling  on  the  rights  of  the  minority,  have  pro 
duced  factions  and  commotions  which,  in  republics, 
have,  more  frequently  than  any  other  cause,  produced 
despotism.  If  we  go  over  the  whole  history  of  an 
cient  and  modern  republics,  we  shall  find  their  de 
struction  to  have  generally  resulted  from  those  causes. 
If  we  consider  the  peculiar  situation  of  the  United 
States,  and  go  to  the  sources  of  that  diversity  of  senti 
ment  which  pervades  its  inhabitants,  we  shall  find 
great  danger  to  fear  that  the  same  causes  may  termi 
nate  here  in  the  same  fatal  effects  which  they  pro 
duced  in  those  republics.  This  danger  ought  to  be 
wisely  guarded  against.  In  the  progress  of  this 
discussion  it  will,  perhaps,  appear,  that  the  only  possi- 


MADISON.  285 

ble  remedy  for  those  evils,  and  the  only  certain  means 
of  preserving  and  protecting  the  principles  of  repub 
licanism,  will  be  found  in  that  very  system  which  is 
now  exclaimed  against  as  the  parent  of  oppression. 
I  must  confess  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  his 
usual  consistency  in  the  gentleman's  arguments  on 
this  occasion.  He  informs  us  that  the  people  of  this 
country  are  at  perfect  repose;  that  every  man  enjoys 
the  fruits  of  labor  peaceably  and  securely,  and  that 
everything  is  in  perfect  tranquillity  and  safety.  I 
wish  sincerely,  sir,  this  were  true.  But  if  this  be 
really  their  situation,  why  has  every  State  acknowl 
edged  the  contrary?  Why  were  deputies  from  all 
the  States  sent  to  the  general  convention  ?  Why  have 
complaints  of  national  and  individual  distresses  been 
echoed  and  re-echoed  throughout  the  continent?  Why 
has  our  general  government  been  so  shamefully  dis 
graced,  and  our  Constitution  violated?  Wherefore 
have  laws  been  made  to  authorize  a  change,  and 
wherefore  are  we  now  assembled  here?  A  federal 
government  is  formed  for  the  protection  of  its  indi 
vidual  members.  Ours  was  itself  attacked  with  im 
punity.  Its  authority  has  been  boldly  disobeyed  and 
openly  despised.  I  think  I  perceive  a  glaring  incon 
sistency  in  another  of  his  arguments.  He  complains 
of  this  Constitution,  because  it  requires  the  consent  of 
at  least  three-fourths  of  the  States  to  introduce 
amendments  which  shall  be  necessary  for  the  happi 
ness  of  the  people.  The  assent  of  so  many,  he  con 
siders  as  too  great  an  obstacle  to  the  admission  of 
salutary  amendments,  which  he  strongly  insists  ought 
to  be  at  the  will  of  a  bare  majority,  and  we  hear  this 


286  MADISON. 

argument  at  the  very  moment  we  are  called  upon  to 
assign  reasons  for  proposing  a  Constitution  which  puts 
it  in  the  power  of  nine  States  to  abolish  the  present 
inadequate,  unsafe,  and  pernicious  confederation !  In 
the  first  case,  he  asserts  that  a  majority  ought  to  have 
the  power  of  altering  the  government,  when  found  to 
be  inadequate  to  the  security  of  public  happiness.  In 
the  last  case,  he  affirms  that  even  three- fourths  of  the 
community  have  not  a  right  to  alter  a  government 
which  experience  has  proved  to  be  subversive  of  na 
tional  felicity ;  nay,  that  the  most  necessary  and  urgent 
alterations  cannot  be  made  without  the  absolute  una 
nimity  of  all  the  States.  Does  not  the  thirteenth  ar 
ticle  of  the  confederation  expressly  require  that 
no  alteration  shall  be  made  without  the  unani 
mous  consent  of  all  the  States?  Can  anything 
in  theory  be  more  perniciously  improvident  and 
injudicious  than  this  submission  of  the  will  of 
the  majority  of  the  most  trifling  minority?  Have 
not  experience  and  practice  actually  manifested 
this  theoretical  inconvenience  to  be  extremely  impol 
itic  ?  Let  me  mention  one  fact,  which  I  conceive  must 
carry  conviction  to  the  mind  of  any  one — the  smallest 
State  in  the  Union  has  obstructed  every  attempt  to 
reform  this  government;  that  little  member  has  re 
peatedly  disobeyed  and  counteracted  the  general  au 
thority;  nay,  has  even  supplied  the  enemies  of  its 
country  with  provisions.  Twelve  States  had  agreed 
to  certain  improvements  which  were  proposed,  being 
thought  absolutely  necessary  to  preserve  the  existence 
of  the  general  government;  but  as  these  improve 
ments,  though  really  indispensable,  could  not,  by  the 


MADISON.  287 

confederation,  be  introduced  into  it  without  the  con 
sent  of  every  State,  the  refractory  dissent  of  that  lit 
tle  State  prevented  their  adoption.  The  inconven 
iences  resulting  from  this  requisition  of  unanimous 
concurrence  in  alterations  of  the  confederation,  must 
be  known  to  every  member  in  this  convention;  it  is 
therefore  needless  to  remind  them  of  them.  Is  it 
not  self-evident,  that  a  trifling  minority  ought  not  to 
bind  the  majority?  Would  not  foreign  influence  be 
•exerted  with  facility  over  a  small  minority?  Would 
the  honorable  gentleman  agree  to  continue  the  most 
radical  defects  in  the  old  system,  because  the  petty 
State  of  Rhode  Island  would  not  agree  to  remove 
them  ? 

He  next  objects  to  the  exclusive  legislation  over  the 
district  where  the  seat  of  the  government  may  be 
fixed.  Would  he  submit  that  the  representatives  of 
this  State  should  carry  on  their  deliberations  under  . 
the  control  of  any  one  member  of  the  Union?  If 
any  State  had  the  power  of  legislation  over  the  place 
where  Congress  should  fix  the  general  government, 
it  would  impair  the  dignity  and  hazard  the  safety 
of  Congress.  If  the  safety  of  the  Union  were  under 
the  control  of  any  particular  State,  would  not  foreign 
corruption  probably  prevail  in  such  a  State,  to  induce 
it  to  exert  its  controlling  influence  over  the  members 
of  the  general  government  ?  Gentlemen  cannot  have 
forgotten  the  disgraceful  insult  which  Congress  re 
ceived  some  years  ago.  And,  sir,  when  we  also  re 
flect,  that  the  previous  cession  of  particular  States  is 
necessary  before  Congress  can  legislate  exclusively) 


288  MADISON. 

anywhere,  we  must,  instead  of  being  alarmed  at  this 
part,  heartily  approve  of  it. 

But  the  honorable  member  sees  great  danger  in  the 
provision  concerning  the  militia.  Now,  sir,  this  I 
conceive  to  be  an  additional  security  to  our  liberties, 
without  diminishing  the  power  of  the  States  in  any 
considerable  degree;  it  appears  to  me  so  highly  ex 
pedient,  that  I  should  imagine  it  would  have 
found  advocates  even  in  the  warmest  friends  of  the 
present  system.  The  authority  of  training  the  militia 
and  appointing  the  officers  is  reserved  to  the  States. 
But  Congress  ought  to  have  the  power  of  establishing 
a  uniform  system  of  discipline  throughout  the  States ; 
and  to  provide  for  the  execution  of  the  laws,  suppress 
insurrections,  and  repel  invasions.  These  are  the 
only  cases  wherein  they  can  interfere  with  the  militia ; 
and  the  obvious  necessity  of  their  having  power  over 
them  in  these  cases  must  flash  conviction  on  any  re 
flecting  mind.  Without  uniformity  of  discipline, 
military  bodies  would  be  incapable  of  action;  without 
a  general  controlling  power  to  call  forth  the  strength 
of  the  Union,  for  the  purpose  of  repelling  invasions, 
the  country  might  be  overrun  and  conquered  by  for 
eign  enemies.  Without  such  a  power  to  suppress  in 
surrections,  our  liberties  might  be  destroyed  by  intes 
tine  faction,  and  domestic  tyranny  be  established.  .  .  . 

Give  me  -leave  to  say  something  of  the  nature  of 
the  government,  and  to  show  that  it  is  perfectly  safe 
and  just  to  vest  it  with  the  power  of  taxation.  There 
are  a  number  of  opinions;  but  the  principal  question 
is,  whether  it  be  a  federal  or  a  consolidated  govern 
ment.  In  order  to  judge  properly  of  the  question  be- 


MADISON.  289 

fore  us,  we  must  consider  it  minutely,  in  its  principal 
parts.  I  myself  conceive  that  it  is  of  a  mixed  nature ; 
it  is,  in  a  manner,  unprecedented.  We  cannot  find 
one  express  prototype  in  the  experience  of  the  world: 
it  stands  by  itself.  In  some  respects  it  is  a  govern 
ment  of  a  federal  nature;  in  others,  it  is  of  a  con 
solidated  nature.  Even  if  we  attend  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  Constitution  is  investigated,  ratified,  and 
made  the  act  of  the  people  of  America,  I  can  say,  not 
withstanding  what  the  honorable  gentleman  has  al 
leged,  that  this  government  is  not  completely  con 
solidated;  nor  is  it  entirely  federal.  Who  are'  the 
parties  to  it?  The  people — not  the  people  as  compos 
ing  one  great  body,  but  the  people  as  composing  thir 
teen  sovereignties.  Were  it,  as  the  gentleman  as 
serts,  a  consolidated  government,  the  assent  of  a  ma 
jority  of  the  people  would  be  sufficient  for  its  estab 
lishment,  and  as  a  majority  have  adopted  it  already, 
the  remaining  States  would  be  bound  by  the  act  of  the 
majority,  even  if  they  unanimously  reprobated  it. 
Were  it  such  a  government  as  is  suggested,  it  would  be 
now  binding  on  the  people  of  this  State,  without  hav 
ing  had  the  privilege  of  deliberating  upon  it ;  but,  sir, 
no  State  is  bound  by  it,  as  it  is,  without  its  own  consent. 
Should  all  the  States  adopt  it,  it  will  be  then  a  govj 
ernment  established  by  the  thirteen  States  of  America, 
not  through  the  intervention  of  the  Legislatures,  but 
by  the  people  at  large.  In  this  particular  respect,  the 
distinction  between  the  existing  and  proposed  gov 
ernments  is  very  material.  The  existing  system  has 
been  derived  from  the  dependent,  derivative  authori 
ty  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  States;  whereas  this  is 


MADISON. 

derived  from  the  superior  power  of  the  people.  If 
we  look  at  the  manner  in  which  alterations  are  to  be 
made  in  it,  the  same  idea  is  in  some  degree  attended 
to.  By  the  new  system,  a  majority  of  the  States  can 
not  introduce  amendments;  nor  are  all  the  States  re 
quired  for  that  purpose;  three-fourths  of  them 'must 
concur  in  alterations ;  in  this  there  is  a  departure  from 
the  federal  idea.  The  members  to  the  national  House 
of  Representatives  are  to  be  chosen  by  the  people  at 
large,  in  proportion  to  the  numbers  in  the  respective 
districts.  When  we  come  to  the  Senate,  its  members 
are  elected  by  the  States  in  their  equal  and  political 
capacity;  but  had  the  government  been  completely 
consolidated,  the  Senate  would  have  been  chosen  by 
the  people,  in  their  individual  capacity,  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  members  of  the  other  House.  Thus 
it  is  of  a  complicated  nature,  and  this  complication,  I 
trust,  will  be  found  to  exclude  the  evils  of  absolute 
consolidation,  as  well  as  of  a  mere  confederacy.  If 
Virginia  were  separated  from  all  the  States,  her  power 
and  authority  would  extend  to  all  cases ;  in  like  man 
ner,  were  all  powers  vested  in  the  general  govern 
ment,  it  would  be  a  consolidated  government ; 
but  the  powers  of  the  Federal  government  are 
enumerated;  it  can  only  operate  in  certain  cases:  it 
has  legislative  powers  on  defined  and  limited  objects, 
beyond  which  it  cannot  extend  its  jurisdiction. 

But  the  honorable  member  has  satirized,  with  pecu 
liar  acrimony,  the  power  given  to  the  general  gov 
ernment  by  this  Constitution.  I  conceive  that  the 
first  question  on  this  subject  is,  whether  these  powers 
be  necessary ;  if  they  be,  we  are  reduced  to  the  dilem- 


MADISON.  291 

ma  of  either  submitting  to  the  inconvenience,  or  losing 
the  Union.  Let  us  consider  the  most  important  of 
these  reprobated  powers;  that  of  direct  taxation  is 
most  generally  objected  to.  With  respect  to  the  exi 
gencies  of  government,  there  is  no  question  but  the 
most  easy  mode  of  providing  for  them  will  be  adopted. 
When,  therefore,  direct  taxes  are  not  necessary,  they 
.will  not  be  recurred  to.  It  can  be  of  little  advantage 
to  those  in  power  to  raise  money  in  a  manner  oppres 
sive  to  the  people.  To  consult  the  conveniences  of 
the  people  will  cost  them  nothing,  and  in  many  re 
spects  will  be  advantageous  to  them.  Direct  taxes 
will  only  be  recurred  to  for  great  purposes.  What 
has  brought  on  other  nations  those  immense  debts, 
under  the  pressure  of  which  many  of  them  labor  ?  Not 
the  expenses  of  their  governments,  but  war.  If  this 
country  should  be  engaged  in  war  (and  I  conceive  we 
ought  to  provide  for  the  possibility  of  such  a  case), 
how  would  it  be  carried  on?  By  the  usual  means 
provided  from  year  to  year?  As  our  imports  will  be 
necessary  for  the  expenses  of  government,  and  other 
common  exigencies,  how  are  we  to  carry  on  the 
means  of  defence?  How  is  it  possible  a  war 
could  be  supported  without  money  or  credit?  And 
would  it  be  possible  for  government  to  have  credit, 
without  having  the  power  of  raising  money?  No, 
it  would  be  impossible  for  any  government,  in  such 
a  case,  to  defend  itself.  Then,  I  say,  sir,  that  it  is 
necessary  to  establish  funds  for  extraordinary  exi 
gencies,  and  give  this  power  to  the  general  govern 
ment;  for  the  utter  inutility  of  previous  requisitions 

on  the  States  is  too  well  known.     Would  it  be  possi- 
10—1 


MADISON. 

ble  for  those  countries,  whose  finances  and  revenues 
are  carried  to  the  highest  perfection,  to  carry  on  the 
operations  of  government  on  great  emergencies,  such 
as  the  maintenance  of  a  war,  without  an  uncontrolled 
power  of  raising  money?  Has  it  not  been  necessary 
for  Great  Britain,  notwithstanding  the  facility  of  the 
collection  of  her  taxes,  to  have  recourse  very  often 
to  this  and  other  extraordinary  methods  of  pro 
curing  money?  Would  not  her  public  credit 
have  been  ruined,  if  it  was  known  that  her  power  to 
raise  money  was  limited?  Has  not  France  been 
obliged,  on  great  occasions,  to  recur  to  unusual  means, 
in  order  to  raise  funds  ?  It  has  been  the  case  in  many 
countries,  and  no  government  can  exist  unless  its 
powers  extend  to  make  provisions  for  every  contin 
gency.  If  we  were  actually  attacked  by  a  powerful 
nation,  and  our  general  government  had  not  the  power 
of  raising  money,  but  depended  solely  on  requisitions, 
our  condition  would  be  truly  deplorable :  if  the  reven 
ues  of  this  commonwealth  were  to  depend  on  twenty 
•distinct  authorities,  it  would  be  impossible  for  it  to 
carry  on  its  operations.  This  must  be  obvious  to  every 
member  here :  I  think,  therefore,  that  it  is  necessary 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  that  this  power 
should  be  given  to  the  general  government. 

But  it  is  urged  that  its  consolidated  nature,  joined 
to  the  power  of  direct  taxation,  will  give  it  a  tendency 
to  destroy  all  subordinate  authority ;  that  its  increasing 
influence  will  speedily  enable  it  to  absorb  the  State 
governments.  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  think  that  this 
will  be  the  case.  If  the  general  government  were 
wholly  independent  of  the  governments  of  the  par- 


MADISON.  293 

ticular  States,  then,  indeed,  usurpation  might  be  ex 
pected  to  the  fullest  extent:  but,  sir,  on  whom  does 
this  general  government  depend?  It  derives*  its  au 
thority  from  these  governments,  and  from  the  same 
sources  from  which  their  authority  is  derived.  The 
members  of  the  Federal  Government  are  taken  from 
the  same  men  from  whom  those  of  the  State  Legis 
latures  are  taken.  If  we  consider  the  mode  in  which 
the  Federal  Representatives  will  be  chosen,  we  shall 
be  convinced  that  the  general  never  will  destroy  the 
individual  governments;  and  this  conviction  must  be 
strengthened  by  an  attention  to  the  construction  of  the 
Senate.  The  Representatives  will  be  chosen,  proba 
bly  under  the  influence  of  the  State  Legislatures :  but 
there  is  not  the  least  probability  that  the  election  of 
the  latter  will  be  influenced  by  the  former.  One  hun 
dred  and  sixty  members  representing  this  common 
wealth  in  one  branch  of  the  Legislature,  are  drawn 
from  the  people  at  large,  and  must  ever  possess  more 
influence  than  the  few  men  who  will  be  elected  to  the 
general  Legislature.  Those  who  wish  to  become 
Federal  Representatives  must  depend  on  their  credit 
with  that  cl-ass  of  men*  who  will  be  the  most  popular 
in  their  counties,  who  generally  represent  the  people 
in  the  State  governments:  they  can,  therefore,  never 
succeed  in  any  measure  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  those 
on  whom  they  depend.  So  that,  on  the  whole,  it 
is  almost  certain  that  the  deliberations  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Federal  House  of  Representatives  will 
be  directed  to  the -interests-  of  the  people  of  America. 
As  to  the  other  branch,  the  Senators  will  be  appointed 
by  the  Legislatures,  and,  though  elected  for  six  years,. 


294  MADISON. 

I  do  not  conceive  they  will  so  soon  forget  the  source 
whence  they  derive  their  political  existence.  This 
election  of  one  branch  of  the  Federal,  by  the  State 
Legislatures,  secures  an  absolute  dependence  of  the 
former  on  the  latter.  The  biennial  exclusion  of  one- 
third  will  lesson  the  facility  of  a  combination,  and 
preclude  all  likelihood  of  intrigues.  I  appeal  to  our 
past  experience,  whether  they  will  attend  to  the  inter 
ests  of  their  constituent  States.  Have  not  those  gen 
tlemen  who  have  been  honored  with  seats  in  Congress 
often  signalized  themselves  by  their  attachment  to 
their  States?  Sir,  I  pledge  myself  that  this  govern 
ment  will  answer  the  expectations  of  its  friends,  and 
foil  the  apprehensions  of  its  enemies.  I  am  persuaded 
that  the  patriotism  of  the  people  will  continue,  and 
be  a  sufficient  guard  to  their  liberties,  and  that  the 
tendency  of  the  Constitution  will  be,  that  the  State 
government  will  counteract  the  general  interest, 
and  ultimately  prevail.  The  number  of  the  Repre 
sentatives  is  yet  sufficient  for  our  safety,  and  will 
gradually  increase;  and  if  we  consider  their  different 
sources  of  information,  the  number  will  not  appear 
too  small. 

Sir,  that  part  of  the  proposed  Constitution  which 
gives  the  general  government  the  power  of  laying  and 
collecting  taxes,  is  indispensable  and  essential  to  the 
existence  of  any  efficient  or  well-organized  system  of 
•government;  if  we  consult  reason,  and  be  ruled  by  its 
dictates  we  shall  find  its  justification  there :  if  we  re 
view  the  experience  we  have  had,  or  contemplate  the 
history  of  nations,  thereto,  we  shall  find  ample  rea 
sons  to  prove  its  expediency.  It  would  be  prepcster- 


MADISON.  295 

ous  to  depend  for  necessary  supplies  on  a  body  which 
•is  fully  possessed  of  the  power  of  withholding  them. 
If  a  government  depends  on  other  governments  for 
its  revenues;  if  it  must  depend  on  the  voluntary  con 
tributions  of  its  members  its  existence  must  be  pre 
carious.  A  government  that  relies  on  thirteen  inde 
pendent  sovereignties  for  the  means  of  its  existence, 
is  a  solecism  in  theory,  and  a  mere  nullity  in  practice. 
Is  it  consistent  with  reason,  that  such  a  government 
can  promote  the  happiness  of  any  people  ?  It  is  sub 
versive  of  every  principle  of  sound  policy,  to  trust 
the  safety  of  a  community  with  a  government  totally 
destitute  of  the  means  of  protecting  itself  or  its  mem 
bers.  Can  Congress,  after  the  repeated  unequivocal 
proofs  it  has  experienced  of  the  utter  inutility  and  in- 
efficacy  of  requisitions,  reasonably  expect  that  they 
would  be  hereafter  effectual  or  productive?  Will 
not  the  same  local  interests,  and  other  causes,  militate 
against  a  compliance?  Whoever  hopes  the  contrary 
must  be  forever  disappointed.  The  effect,  sir,  can 
not  be  changed  without  a  removal  of  the  cause.  Let 
each  country  in  this  commonwealth  be  supposed  free 
and  independent :  let  your  revenues  depend  on  requi 
sitions  of  proportionate  quotas  from  them :  let  appli 
cation  be  made  to  them  repeatedly,  and  then  ask  your 
self,  is  it  to  be  presumed  that  they  would  comply,  or 
that  an  adequate  collection  could  be  made  from  par 
tial  compliances?  It  is  now  difficult  to  collect  the 
taxes  from  them :  how  much  would  that  difficulty  be 
enhanced,  were  you  to  depend  solely  on  their  gener 
osity?  I  appeal  to  the  reason  of  every  gentleman 


296  MADISON. 

suaded  that  the  present  confederation  is  as  feeble 
as  the  government  of  Virginia  would  be  in  that 
case;  to  the  same  reason  I  appeal,  whether  it  be  com 
patible  with  prudence  to  continue  a  government  of 
such  manifest  and  palpable  weakness  and  inefficiency. 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

UNWILLING  to  depart  from  examples  of  the  most 
revered  authority,  I  avail  myself  of  this  occasion,  now 
presented,  to  express  the  profound  impression  made 
on  me  by  the  call  of  my  country  to  the  station  to  the 
duties  of  which  I  am  about  to  pledge  myself  by  the 
most  solemn  of  sanctions.  So  distinguished  a  mark 
of  confidence,  proceeding  from  the  deliberate  and 
tranquil  suffrage  of  a  free  and  virtuous  nation,  would, 
tinder  any  circumstances,  have  commanded  my  grati 
tude  and  devotion,  as  well  as  filled  me  with  an  awful 
sense  of  the  trust  to  be  assumed.  Under  the  various 
circumstances  which  give  peculiar  solemnity  to  the  ex 
isting  period,  I  feel  that  both  the  honor  and  the  re 
sponsibility  allotted  to  me  are  inexpressibly  enhanced. 

The  present  situation  of  the  world  is  indeed  without 
a  parallel;  and  that  of  our  country  full  of  difficulties. 
The  pressure  of  these  two  is  the  more  severely  felt 
because  they  have  fallen  upon  us  at  a  moment  when, 
national  prosperity  being  at  a  height  not  before  at 
tained,  the  contrast  resulting  from  this  change  has 
been  rendered  the  more  striking.  Under  the  beoign 
Influence  of  our  republican  institutions  and  the  main 
tenance  of  peace  with  all  nations,  whilst  so  many  of 


MADISON.  297 

them  were  engaged  in  bloody  and  wasteful  wars,  the 
fruits  of  a  just  policy  were  enjoyed  in  an  unrivalled 
growth  of  our  faculties  and  resources.  Proofs  of  this 
were  seen  in  the  improvements  of  agriculture;  in  the 
successful  enterprises  of  commerce;  in  the  progress 
of  manufactures  and  useful  arts;  in  the  increase  of 
the  public  revenue  and  the  use  made  of  it  in  reducing 
the  public  debt;  and  in  the  valuable  works  and  estab 
lishments  everywhere  multiplying  over  the  face  of 
our  land. 

It  is  a  precious  reflection  that  the  transition  from 
this  prosperous  condition  of  our  country  to  the  scene 
which  has  for  some  time  been  distressing  us  is  not 
chargeable  on  any  unwarrantable  views,  nor,  as  I 
trust,  on  any  involuntary  errors  in  the  public  coun 
cils.  Indulging  no  passions  which  trespass  on  the- 
rights  or  the  repose  of  other  nations,  it  has  been  the 
true  glory  of  the  United  States  to  cultivate  peace  by 
observing  justice,  and  to  entitle  themselves  to  the  re 
spect  of  the  nations  at  war  by  fulfilling  their  neutral 
obligations  with  the  most  scrupulous  impartiality. 
If  there  be  candor  in  the  world  the  truth  of  these 
assertions  will  not  be  questioned.  Posterity  at  least 
will  do  justice  to  them. 

This  unexceptional  course  could  not  avail  against 
the  injustice  and  violence  of  the  belligerent  powers.. 
In  their  rage  against  each  other,  or  impelled  by  more 
direct  motives,  principles  of  retaliation  have  been  in 
troduced  equally  contrary  to  universal  reason  and 
acknowledged  law.  How  long  their  arbitrary  edicts 
will  be  continued  in  spite  of  the  demonstrations  that 
not  even  a  pretext  for  them  has  been  given  by  the 


2gS  MADISON. 

United  States,  and  of  the  fair  and  liberal  attempts  to 
induce  a  revocation  of  them,  cannot  be  anticipated. 
Assuring  myself  that  under  every  vicissitude  the  de 
termined  spirit  and  united  councils  of  the  nation  will 
be  safeguards,  to  its  honor  and  its  essential  interests, 
I  repair  to  the  post  assigned  me  with  no  other  dis 
couragement  than  what  springs  from  my  own  inade 
quacy  to  its  high  duties.  If  I  do  not  sink  under  the 
weight  of  this  deep  conviction  it  is  because  I  find 
some  support  in  a  consciousness  of  the  purposes  and  a 
confidence  in  the*  principles  which  I  bring  with  me 
into  this  arduous  service. 

To  cherish  peace  and  friendly  intercourse  with  all 
nations  having  correspondent  dispositions;  to  main 
tain  sincere  neutrality  toward  belligerent  nations;  to 
prefer,  in  all  cases,  amiable  discussion  and  reasonable 
accommodation  of  differences  to  a  decision  of  them  by 
an  appeal  to  arms;  to  exclude  foreign  intrigues  and 
foreign  partialities,  so  degrading  to  all  countries  and 
so  baneful  to  free  ones ;  to  foster  a  spirit  of  indepen 
dence  too  just  to  invade  the  rights  of  others,  too  proud 
to  surrender  our  own,  too  liberal  to  indulge  unworthy 
prejudices  ourselves,  and  too  elevated  not  to  look 
down  upon  them  in  others;  to  hold  the  union  of  the 
States  as  the  basis  of  their  peace  and  happiness ;  to  sup 
port  the  constitution,  which  is  the  cement  of  the 
Union,  as  wrell  in  its  limitations  as  in  its  authorities; 
to  respect  the  rights  and  authorities  reserved  to  the 
States  and  to  the  people,  as  equally  incorporated  with 
and  essential  to  the  success  of  the  general  system;  to 
avoid  the  slightest  interference  with  the  rights  of  con 
science  or  the  functions  of  religion,  so  wisely  ex- 


MADISON.  299 

empted  from  civil  jurisdiction;  to  preserve  in  their 
full  energy  the  other  salutary  provisions  in  behalf  of 
private  and  personal  rights  and  of  the  freedom  of  the 
press;  to  observe  economy  in  public  expenditures;  to 
liberate  the  public  resources  by  an  honorable  dis 
charge  of  the  public  debts;  to  keep  within  the  requi 
site  limit  a  standing  military  force,  always  remember 
ing  that  an  armed  and  trained  militia  is  the  firmest 
bulwark  of  republics,  that  without  standing  armies 
their  liberty  can  never  be  in  danger,  nor,  with  large 
ones,  safe ;  to  promote  by  authorized  means  improve 
ments  friendly  to  agriculture,  to  manufactures,  and 
to  external,  as  well  as  internal  commerce ;  to  favor  in 
like  manner  the  advancement  of  science  and  the  diffu 
sion  of  information  as  the  best  aliment  to  true  liberty ;. 
to  carry  on  the  benevolent  plans  which  have  been  so 
meritoriously  applied  to  the  conversion  of  our  aborig 
inal  neighbors  from  the  degradation  and  wretchedness 
of  savage  life,  to  a  participation  of  the  improvements 
of  which  the  human  mind  and  manners  are  susceptible 
in  a  civilized  state :  as  far  as  sentiments  and  intentions 
such  as  these  can  aid  the  fulfilment  of  my  duty  they 
will  be  a  resource  which  cannot  fail  me. 

It  is  my  good  fortune,  moreover,  to  have  the  path 
in  which  I  am  to  tread  lighted  by  examples  of  illus 
trious  services  successfully  rendered  in  the  most  try 
ing  difficulties  by  those  who  have  marched  before  me. 
Of  those  of  my  immediate  predecessor  it  might  least 
become  me  here  to  speak;  I  may,  however,  be  par 
doned  for  not  suppressing  the  sympathy  with  which 
my  heart  is  full,  in  the  rich  reward  he  enjoys  in  the 
benedictions  of  a  beloved  country,  gratefully  bestowed 


3OO  MADISON. 

for  exalted  talents  zealously  devoted  through  a  long 
career  to  the  advancement  of  its  highest  interest  and 
happiness.  But  the  source  to  which  I  look  for  the 
aids  which'  can  alone  supply  my  deficiencies  is  in  the 
well-tried  intelligence  and  virtue  of  my  fellow 
citizens  and  in  the  councils  of  those  representing  them 
in  the  other  departments  associated  in  the  care  of  the 
national  interests.  In  these  my  confidence  will,  un 
der  every  difficulty,  be  best  placed;  next  to  that  we 
have  all  been  encouraged  to  feel  in  the  guardianship 
and  guidance  of  that  Almighty  Being  whose  power 
regulates  the  destiny  of  nations,  whose  blessings  have 
been  so  conspicuously  dispensed  to  this  rising  Repub 
lic,  and  to  whom  we  are  bound  to  address  our  devout 
gratitude  for  the  past  as  well  as  our  fervent  supplica 
tions  and  best  hopes  for  the  future. 


RED   JACKET.  3OI 

Red  Jacket,  Sagoyewatha,  an  Indian  chief  of  the 
Seneca  tribe,  famous  for  his  oratory,  born  at  Old  Castle, 
near  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  in  1751  ;  died  at  Seneca  Village,, 
N.  Y.,  Jan.  30,  1830.  He  obtained  his  name  because  of  his 
fondness  for  a  scarlet  tunic  given  him  by  an  English  officer 
for  speed  in  running.  After  1800,  he  was  the  most  promi 
nent  leader  of  the  Six  Nations.  Red  Jacket  fought  with 
his  tribe  on  the  English  side  in  the  American  Revolution,, 
but  in  the  second  war  with  England  he  espoused  the  Amer 
ican  cause.  He  possessed  extraordinary  powers  as  an 
orator,  and  his  style  was  one  of  great  dignity  and  impressive- 
ness.  His  most  celebrated  speech  was  delivered  at  Fort 
Stanwix  in  opposition  to  the  treaty  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Six  Nations. 


SPEECH  AT  FORT  STANWIX. 

[A  succession  of  outrages  upon  the  Indians  residing  along  the 
Pennsylvania  border,  resulting  at  different  times  in  the  murder  of 
several  of  their  people,  induced  the  Senecas  and  Tuscaroras  in 
February,  1801,  to  send  a  deputation  of  their  chiefs  to  the  seat  of 
the  Federal  government,  which,  since  the  last  Seneca  embassage, 
had  been  transferred  from  Philadelphia  to  the  city  of  Washington. 
Red  Jacket  was  at  the  head  of  this  deputation,  which  was  received 
formally,  with  an  appropriate  speech,  by  the  acting  secretary  of 
war,  Samuel  Dexter,  on  the  loth  of  February.  On  the  nth  Red 
Jacket  replied,  setting  forth  the  business  of  his  mission  in  the  fol 
lowing  speech :] 

BROTHER. — We  received  your  speech,  which  re 
moved  all  uneasiness  from  our  minds.  We  then  told 
you  that  should  it  please  the  Great  Spirit  to  permit 
us  to  rise  in  health  this  day  you  should  hear  what  we 
have  come  to  say. 

Brother,  the  business  on  which  we  are  now  come  is- 


3O2  RED   JACKET. 

to  restore  the  friendship  that  has  existed  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Six  Nations,  agreeable  to  the 
direction  of  the  commissioner  from  the  fifteen  fires 
of  the  United  States.  He  assured  us  that  whenso 
ever,  by  any  grievance,  the  chain  of  friendship  should 
become  rusty,  we  might  have  it  brightened  by  calling 
on  you.  We  dispense  with  the  usual  formality  of 
having  your  speech  again  read,  as  we  fully  compre 
hended  it  yesterday,  and  it  would  therefore  be  useless 
to  waste  time  in  a  repetition  of  it. 

Brother,  yesterday  you  wiped  the  tears  from  our 
•eyes,  that  we  might  see  clearly;  you  unstopped  our 
ears  that  we  might  hear;  and  removed  the  obstruc 
tions  from  our  throats  that  we  might  speak  distinctly. 
You  offered  to  join  with  us  in  tearing  up  the  largest 
pine-tree  in  our  forests,  and  under  it  to  bury  the  toma 
hawk.  We  gladly  join  with  you,  brother,  in  this 
work,  and  let  us  heap  rocks  and  stones  on  the  root  of 
this  tree  that  the  tomahawk  may  never  again  be  found. 

Brother,  your  'apology  for  not  having  wampum  is 
sufficient,  and  we  agree  to  accept  of  your  speeches  on 
paper,  to  evince  our  sincerity  in  wishing  the  tomahawk 
forever  buried.  We  accompany  a  repetition  of  our 
assurances  with  these  strings  [Strings  of  wampum.] 

Brother,  we  always  desire,  on  similar  melancholy 
occasions,  to  go  through  our  customary  forms  of  con 
dolence,  and  have  been  happy  to  find  the  officers  of 
the  government  of  the  United  States  willing  in  this 
manner  to  make  our  minds  easy. 

Brother,  we  observe  that  the  men  now  in  office  are 
new  men,  and,  we  fear,  not  fully  informed  of  all 
that  has  befallen  us.  In  1791  a  treaty  was  held  by 


RED   JACKET.  303 

the  commissioners  of  Congress  with  us  at  Tioga 
Point,  on  a  similar  occasion.  We  have  lost  seven  of 
our  warriors,  murdered  in  cold  blood  by  white  men, 
since  the  conclusion  of  the  war.  We  are  tired  of  this 
mighty  grievance  and  wish  some  general  arrangement 
to  prevent  it  in  future.  The  first  of  these  was  mur 
dered  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  near  Fort  Pitt. 
Shortly  after  two  men  belonging  to  our  first  families 
were  murdered  at  Pine  Creek ;  then  one  at  Fort  Frank 
lin;  another  at  Tioga  Point;  and  now  the  two  that 
occasion  this  visit,  on  the  Big  Beaver.  These  last 
two  had  families.  The  one  was  a  Seneca;  the  other  a 
Tuscarora.  Their  families  are  now  destitute  of  sup 
port,  and  we  think  that  the  United  States  should  do 
something  toward  theis  support,  as  it  is  to  the  United 
States  they  owe  the  loss  of  their  heads. 

Brother,  these  offences  are  always  committed  in  one 
place  on  the  frontier  of  Pennsylvania.  In  the  Gene- 
see  country  we  live  happy  and  no  one  molests  us. 
I  must  therefore  beg  that  the  President  will  exert  all 
his  influence  with  all  officers,  civil  and  military,  in- 
that  quarter,  to  remedy  this  grievance,  and  trust  that 
he  will  thus  prevent  a  repetition  of  it  and  save  our 
blood  from  being  spilled  in  future.  [A  belt.] 

Brother,  let  me  call  to  mind  the  treaty  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Six  Nations,  concluded  at  Can- 
andaigua.  At  that  treaty  Colonel  Pickering,  who  was 
commissioner  on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  agreed 
that  the  United  States  should  pay  to  the  Six  Nations 
four  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  and 
that  this  should  pass  through  the  hands  of  he  super 
intendent  of  the  United  States,  to  be  appointed  for 


304  RED  JACKET. 

that  purpose.  This  treaty  was  made  in  the  name 
of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  who  was  then 
General  Washington ;  and,  as  he  is  now  no  more,  per- 
liaps  the  present  President  would  wish  to  renew  the 
treaty.  But  if  he  should  think  the  old  one  valid  and 
is  willing  to  let  it  remain  in  force  we  are  also  willing. 
The  sum  above  mentioned  we  wish  to  have  part  of  in 
money,  to  expend  in  more  agricultural  tools  and  in 
purchasing  a  team,  as  we  have  some  horses  that  will 
do  for  the  purpose.  We  also  wish  to  build  a  sawmill 
on  the  Buffalo  creek.  If  the  President,  however, 
thinks  proper  to  have  it  continue  as  heretofore,  we 
shall  not  be  very  uneasy.  Whatever  he  may  do  we 
agree  to;  we  only  suggest  this  for  his  consideration. 
[A  belt.] 

Brother,  I  hand  you  the  above-mentioned  treaty, 
made  by  Colonel  Pickering  in  the  name  of  General 
Washington,  and  the  belt  that  accompanied  it;  as  he 
is  now  dead  we  know  not  if  it  is  still  valid.  If  not, 
we  wish  it  renewed — if  it  is,  we  wish  it  copied  on  clean 
parchment.  Our  money  got  loose  in  our  trunk  and 
tore  it.  We  also  show  you  the  belt  which  is  the  path 
of  peace  between  our  Six  Nations  and  the  United 
States.  [Treaty  and  two  belts.] 

Brother,  a  request  was  forwarded  by  us  from  the 
Onondaga  Nation  to  the  Governor  of  New  York  that 
he  should  appoint  a  commissioner  to  hold  a  treaty  with 
•them.  They  have  a  reservation  surrounded  by  white 
men  which  they  wish  to  sell.  The  Cayugas  also  have 
a  reservation  so  surrounded  that  they  have  been 
forced  to  leave  it,  and  they  hope  that  the  President's 
-commissioner,  whom  they  expect  he  will  not  hesitate 


RED   JACKET.  30$, 

to  appoint,  will  be  instructed  to  attend  to  this  busi 
ness.  We  also  have  some  business  with  New  York 
which  we  would  wish  him  to  attend  to. 
'  Brother,  the  business  that  has  caused  this  our  long 
journey  was  occasioned  by  some  of  your  bad  men ;  the 
expense  of  it  has  been  heavy  on  us.  We  beg  that  as 
so  great  a  breach  has  been  made  on  your  part,  the 
President  will  judge  it  proper  that  the  United  States 
should  bear  our  expenses  to  and  from  home  and  whilst 
here. 

Brother,  three  horses  belonging  to  the  Tuscarora 
Nation  were  killed  by  some  men  under  the  command 
of  Major  Rivardi,  on  the  plains  of  Niagara.  They 
have  made  application  to  the  superintendent  and  to 
Major  Rivardi,  but  get  no  redress.  You  make  us 
pay  for  our  breaches  of  the  peace,  why  should  you  not 
pay  also?  A  white  man  has  told  us  the  horses  were 
killed  by  Major  Rivardi's  orders,  who  said  they  should 
not  be  permitted  to  come  there,  although  it  was  an 
open  common  on  which  they  were  killed.  Mr.  Chapin 
has  the  papers  respecting  these  horses,  which  we  re 
quest  you  to  take  into  consideration. 


306  RED   JACKET. 


DEFENCE  OF  STIFF-ARMED  GEORGE. 

[Some  time  during  the  year  1802,  John  Hewitt,  a  white  man,  was 
murdered  at  Buffalo  Creek  by  Stiff-armed-George,  an  Indian,  who 
was  intoxicated  at  the  time  he  committed  the  act.  His  surrender 
was  demanded  by  the  civil  authorities  of  New  York.  This  demand 
was  resisted,  the  fact  of  drunkenness  on  the  part  of  the  offender 
being  pleaded  in  extenuation  of  the  crime.  After  several  meetings 
between  the  Indians  and  the  citizens,  in  which  the  latter  had  vainly 
attempted  to  persuade  the  former  to  surrender  the  culprit,  a  coun 
cil  of  the  principal  chiefs  of  the  Senecas,  Cayugas,  and  Onondagas 
was  convened  at  Canandaigua,  to  give  the  question  a  more  solemn 
consideration.  A  conference  having  been  arranged  between  the 
council  and  the  principal  inhabitants,  Red  Jacket,  arguing  against 
the  surrender  upon  the  principles  already  indicated,  delivered  the 
following  speech,  addressed  particularly  to  the  white  portion  of  his 
audience :] 

BROTHERS, — Open  your  ears  and  give  your  atten 
tion.  This  day  is  appointed  by  the  Great  Spirit  to 
meet  our  friends  at  this  place.  During  the  many 
years  that  we  have  lived  together  in  this  country  good 
will  and  harmony  have  subsisted  among  us. 

Brothers,  we  have  now  come  forward  on  an  un 
happy  occasion.  We  cannot  find  words  to  express 
our  feelings  upon  it.  One  of  our  people  has  murdered 
one  of  your  people.  So  it  has  been  ordered  by  the 
Great  Spirit,  who  controls  all  events.  This  has  been 
done :  we  cannot  now  help  it.  At  first  view  it  would 
seem  to  have  the  effect  of  putting  an  end  to  our 
friendship;  but  let  us  reflect  and  put  our  minds  to 
gether.  Can't  we  point  out  measures  whereby  our 
peace  and  harmony  may  still  be  preserved  ?  We  have 


RED   JACKET.  307 

come  forward  to  this  place,  where  we  have  always 
had  a  superintendent  and  friend  to  receive  us  and  to 
make  known  to  him  such  grievances  as  lay  upon  our 
minds ;  but  now  we  have  none ;  and  we  have  no  guard 
ian — no  protector — no  one  is  now  authorized  to  re 
ceive  us. 

Brother,  we  therefore  now  call  upon  you  to  take  our 
speech  in  writing  and  forward  our  ideas  to  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States. 

Brothers,  let  us  look  back  to  our  former  situation. 
While  you  were  under  the  government  of  Great  Brit 
ain,  Sir  William  Johnson  was  our  superintendent,  ap 
pointed  by  the  King.  He  had  power  to  settle  offences 
of  this  kind  among  all  the  Indian  nations  without  ad 
verting  to  the  laws.  But  under  the  British  govern 
ment  you  were  uneasy — you  wanted  to  change  it  for 
a  better.  General  Washington  went  forward  as  your 
leader.  From  his  exertions  you  gained  your  inde 
pendence.  Immediately  afterward  a  treaty  was  made 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Six  Nations, 
whereby  a  method  was  pointed  out  of  redressing  such 
an  accident  as  the  present.  Several  such  accidents 
did  happen  where  we  were  the  sufferers.  We  now 
•crave  the  same  privilege  in  making  restitution  to  you 
that  you  adopted  toward  us  in  a  similar  situation. 

Brothers,  at  the  close  of  our  treaty  at  Philadel 
phia  General  Washington  told  us  that  we  had  formed 
a  chain  of  friendship  which  was  bright;  he  hoped  it 
would  continue  so  on  our  part ;  that  fche  United  States 
would  be  equally  willing  to  brighten  it,  if  rusted  by 
any  means.  A  number  of  murders  have  been  com 
mitted  on  our  people — we  shall  only  mention  the  last 


308  RED   JACKET. 

of  them.  About  two  years  ago  a  few  of  our  warriors 
were  amusing  themselves  in  the  woods  to  the  west 
ward  of  Fort  Pitt;  two  white  men  coolly  and  deliber 
ately  took  their  rifles,  travelled  nearly  three  miles  to 
our  encampment,  fired  upon  the  Indians,  killed  two 
men  and  wounded  two  children.  We  then  were  the 
party  injured.  What  did  we  do?  We  flew  to  the 
treaty  and  thereby  obtained  redress  perfectly  satis 
factory  to  us,  and  we  hope  agreeable  to  you.  This 
was  done  a  short  time  before  President  Adams  went 
out  of  office:  complete  peace  and  harmony  was  re 
stored.  We  now  want  the  same  method  of  redress 
to  be  pursued. 

Brothers,  how  did  the  present  accident  take  place? 
Did  our  warriors  go  from  home  cool  and  sober  and 
commit  murder  on  you?  No.  Our  brother  was  in 
liquor  and  a  quarrel  ensued,  in  which  the  unhappy  acci 
dent  happened.  We  would  not  excuse  him  on  account 
of  his  being  in  liquor;  but  such  a  thing  was  far  from 
his  intentions  in  his  sober  moments.  We  are  all  ex 
tremely  grieved  at  it,  and  are  willing  to  come  forward 
and  have  it  settled  as  crimes  of  the  same  nature  have 
heretofore  been. 

Brothers,  since  this  accident  has  taken  place  we 
have  been  informed  that  by  the  laws  of  this  State,  if  a 
murder  is  committed  within  it,  the  murderer  must  be 
tried  by  the  laws  of  the  State  and  punished  with  death. 

Brothers,  when  were  such  laws  explained  to  us? 
Did  we  ever  make  a  treaty  with  the  State  of  New 
York  and  agree  to  conform  to  its'  laws  ?  No.  We  are 
independent  of  the  State  of  New  York.  It  was  the 
\vill  of  the  Great  Spirit  to  create  us  different  in  color; 


RED   JACKET.  309 

we  have  different  laws,  habits  and  customs  from  the 
white  people.  We  shall  never  consent  that  the  gov 
ernment  of  this  State  shall  try  our  brother.  We  ap 
peal  to  the  government  of  the  United  States. 

Brothers,  under  the  customs  and  habits  of  our  fore 
fathers  we  were  a  happy* people;  we  had  laws  of  our 
own ;  they  were  dear  to  us.  The  whites  came  among 
us  and  introduced  their  customs;  they  introduced  li 
quor  among  us,  which  our  forefathers  always  told  us 
would  prove  our  ruin. 

Brothers,  in  consequence  of  the  introduction  of 
liquor  among  us  numbers  of  our  people  were  killed. 
A  council  was  held  to  consider  of  a  remedy,  at  which 
it  was  agreed  by  us  that  no  private  revenge  should 
take  place  for  any  such  murder — that  it  was  decreed 
by  the  Great  Spirit  and  that  a  council  should  be  called 
to  consider  of  redress  to  the  friends  of  the  deceased. 

Brothers,  the  President  of  the  United  States  is 
called  a  great  man,  possessing  great  power.  He  may 
do  what  he  pleases — he  may  turn  men  out  of  office, 
men  who  held  their  offices  long  before  he  held  his. 
If  he  can  do  these  things  can  he  not  even  control  the 
laws  of  this  State?  Can  he  not  appoint  a  commis 
sioner  to  come  forward  to  our  country  and  settle  the 
present  difference,  as  we,  on  our  part,  have  hereto 
fore  often  done  to  him,  upon  a  similar  occasion? 

We  now  call  upon  you,  brothers,  to  represent  these 
things  to  the  President,  and  we  trust  that  he  will  not 
refuse  our  request  of  sending  a  commissioner  to  us 
with  powers  to  settle  the  present  difference.  The 
consequence  of  a  refusal  may  be  serious.  We  are 
determined  that  our  brother  shall  not  be  tried  by  the 


310  RED   JACKET. 

laws  of  the  State  of  New  York.  Their  laws  make 
no  difference  between  a  crime  committed  in  liquor 
and  one  committed  coolly  and  deliberately.  Our 
laws  are  different,  as  we  have  before  stated.  If  tried 
here  our  brother  must  be  hanged.  We  cannot  sub 
mit  to  that;  has  a  murder  been  committed  upon  our 
people,  when  was  it  punished  with  death? 

Brothers,  we  have  now  finished  what  we  had  to  say 
on  the  subject  of  the  murder.  We  wish  to  address 
you  upon  another,  and  to  have  our  ideas  communi 
cated  to  the  President  upon  it  also. 

Brothers,  it  was  understood  at  the  treaty  concluded 
by  Colonel  Pickering  that  our  superintendent  should 
reside  in  the  town  of  Canandaigua,  and  for  very  good 
reasons:  that  situation  is  the  most  central  for  the 
Six  Nations;  and  by  subsequent  treaties  with  the 
State  of  New  York  and  the  Indians  there  are  still 
stronger  reasons  why  he  should  reside  here,  princi 
pally  on  account  of  the  annuities  being  stipulated  to 
be  paid  to  our  superintendent  at  this  place.  These 
treaties  are  sacred.  If  their  superintendent  resides 
elsewhere  the  State  may  object  to  sending  their  money 
to  him  at  a  greater  distance.  We  would  therefore 
wish  our  superintendent  to  reside  here  at  all  events. 

Brothers,  with  regard  to  the  appointment  of  our 
present  superintendent,  we  look  upon  ourselves  as 
much  neglected  and  injured.  When  General  Chapin 
and  Captain  Chapin  were  appointed  our  wishes  were 
consulted  upon  the  occasion  and  we  most  cordially 
agreed  to  the  appointments.  Captain  Chapin  has 
been  turned  out,  however,  within  these  few  days.  We 
jdo  not  understand  that  any  neglect  of  duty  has  been 


RED  JACKET.  3H 

alleged  against  him.  We  are  told  it  is  because  he 
differs  from  the  President  in  his  sentiments  on  gov 
ernment  matters.  He  has  also  been  perfectly  satis 
factory  to  us ;  and  had  we  known  of  the  intention  we 
should  most  cordially  have  united  in  a  petition  to  the 
President  to  continue  him  in  office.  We  feel  our 
selves  injured;  we  have  nobody  to  look  to,  nobody  to 
listen  to  our  complaints,  none  to  reconcile  any  differ 
ences  among  us.  We  are  like  a  young  family  without 
a  father. 

Brothers,  we  understand  that  the  President  has 
appointed  a  superintendent  who  is  altogether  un 
known  to  us  and  who  is  unacquainted  with  Indian 
affairs.  We  know  him  not  in  our  country.  Had  we 
been  consulted  upon  the  subject  we  might  have  named 
some  one  residing  in  this  country  who  was  v/ell 
known  to  us.  Perhaps  we  might  have  agreed  upon 
Mr.  Oliver  Phelps,  whose  politics,  coinciding  with 
those  of  the  President,  might  have  recommended 
him  to  the  office. 

Brothers,  we  cannot  conclude  without  again  urging* 
you  to  make  known  all  these  sentiments  to  the  Presi 
dent.* 

*  The  eloquent  pleadings  of  the  Indians  were  unavailing.  They 
were  compelled  to  surrender  the  offender  to  the  inexorable  law  of 
the  white  man,  though  it  was  done  with  great  reluctance.  His 
name  was  Stiff-armed-George.  He  was  tried  and  convicted  at  the 
Oyer  and  Terminer  of  Ontario  county,  on  the  23d  of  February, 
1803 — Brockholst  Livingston,  one  of  the  justices  of  the  supreme 
court,  presiding ;  but  as  the  murder  was  without  pre-existing  malice, 
and  was  moreover  attended  by  various  mitigating  circumstances, 
the  court,  the  attorney-general,  the  grand  jury  that  indicted  him, 
together  with  many  of  the  people  of  Canandaigua,  united  in  a  peti 
tion  to  the  governor,  George  Clinton,  for  his  pardon. 


312  RED  JACKET. 


REPLY  TO  MR.  CRAM. 

[In  the  summer  of  1805  a  young  missionary  named  Cram  was 
sent  into  the  country  of  the  Six  Nations  by  the  Evangelical  Mis 
sionary  Society  of  Massachusetts  to  found  a  mission  among  the 
Senecas.  A  council  of  their  chiefs  was  convoked  to  hear  his  propo 
sitions.  These  were  made  in  a  short  speech  to  which  the  Indians 
listened  with  earnest  attention.  After  a  long  consultation  among, 
themselves  Red  Jacket  rose  and  spoke  as  follows :] 

FRIEND  AND  BROTHER, — It  was  the  will  of  the  Great 
Spirit  that  we  should  meet  together  this  day.  He 
orders  all  things  and  has  given  us  a  fine  day  for  our 
council.  He  has  taken  his  garment  from  before  the 
sun  and  caused  it  to  shine  with  brightness  upon  us. 
Our  eyes  are  opened  that  we  see  clearly;  our  ears 
are  unstopped  that  we  have  been  able  to  hear  distinctly 
the  words  you  have  spoken.  For  all  these  favors  we 
thank  the  Great  Spirit,  and  him  only. 

Brother,  this  council  fire  was  kindled  by  you.  It  was- 
at  your  request  that  we  came  together  at  this  time. 
We  have  listened  with  attention  to  what  you  have 
said.  You  requested  us  to  speak  our  minds  freely. 
This  gives  us  great  joy;  for  we  now  consider  that 
we  stand  upright  before  you  and  can  speak  what  we 
think.  All  have  heard  your  voice  and  all  speak  to 
you  now  as  one  man.  Our  minds  are  agreed. 

Brother,  you  say  you  want  an  answer  to  your  talk 
before  you  leave  this  place.  It  is  right  you  should 
have  one,  as  you  are  a  great  distance  from  home  and 
we  do  not  wish  to  detain  you.  But  we  will  first  look 


RED    JACKET.  313 

back  a  little  and  tell  you  what  our  fathers  have  told 
us  and  what  we  have  heard  from  the  white  people. 

Brother,  listen  to  what  we  say.  There  was  a  time 
when  our  forefathers  owned  this  great  island.  Their 
seats  extended  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun. 
The  Great  Spirit  had  made  it  for  the  use  of  Indians. 
He  had  created  the  buffalo,  the  deer,  and  other  ani 
mals  for  food.  He  had  made  the  bear  and  the  bea 
ver.  Their  skins  served  us  for  clothing.  He  had 
scattered  them  over  the  country  and  taught  us  how  to 
take  them.  He  had  caused  the  earth  to  produce  corn 
for  bread.  All  this  he  had  done  for  his  red  children 
because  he  loved  them.  If  we  had  some  disputes 
about  our  hunting  ground  they  were  generally  set 
tled  without  the  shedding  of  much  blood.  But  an 
evil  day  came  upon  us.  Your  forefathers  crossed  the 
great  water  and  landed  on  this  island.  Their  num 
bers  were  small.  They  found  friends  and  not  ene 
mies.  They  told  us  they  had  fled  from  their  own 
country  for  fear  of  wicked  men  and  had  come  here  to 
enjoy  their  religion.  They  asked  for  a  small  seat. 
We  took  pity  on  them ;  granted  their  request,  and  they 
sat  down  amongst  us.  We  gave  them  corn  and  meat ; 
they  gave  us  poison  in  return. 

The  white  people,  brother,  had  now  found  our  coun 
try.  Tidings  were  carried  back  and  more  came 
amongst  us.  Yet  we  did  not  fear  them.  We  took 
them  to  be  friends.  They  called  us  brothers.  We 
believed  them  and  gave  them  a  larger  seat.  At 
length  their  numbers  had  greatly  increased;  they 
wanted  more  land;  they  wanted  our  country.  Our 
eyes  were  opened  and  our  minds  became  uneasy. 


314  RED  JACKET. 

Wars  took  place.  Indians  were  hired  to  fight  against 
Indians,  and  many  of  our  people  were  destroyed. 
They  also  brought  strong  liquor  amongst  us.  It 
was  strong  and  powerful  and  has  slain  thousands. 

Brother,  our  seats  were  once  large  and  yours  were 
small.  You  have  now  become  a  great  people,  and  we 
have  scarcely  a  place  left  to  spread  our  blankets.  You 
have  got  our  country  but  are  not  satisfied;  you  want 
to  force  your  religion  upon  us. 

Brother,  continue  to  listen.  You  say  that  you  are 
sent  to  instruct  us  how  to  worship  the  Great  Spirit 
agreeably  to  his  mind;  and,  if  we  do  not  take  hold 
of.  the  religion  which  you  white  people  teach  we  shall 
be  unhappy  hereafter.  You  say  that  you  are  right 
and  we  are  lost.  How  do  we  know  this  to  be  true? 
We  understand  that  your  religion  is  written  in  a  book. 
If  it  was  intended  for  us,  as  well  as  you,  why  has 
not  the  Great  Spirit  given  to  us,  and  not  only  to  us, 
but  why  did  he  not  give  to  our  forefathers  the  knowl 
edge  of  that  book,  with  the  means  of  understanding 
it  rightly?  We  only  know  what  you  tell  us  about  it. 
How  shall  we  know  when  to  believe,  being  so  often 
deceived  by  the  white  people? 

Brother,  you  say  there  is  but  one  way  to  worship 
and  serve  the  Great  Spirit.  If  there  is  but  one  re 
ligion,  why  do  you  white  people  differ  so  much  about 
it  ?  Why  not  all  agreed,  as  you  can  all  read  the  book  ? 

Brother,  we  do  not  understand  these  things.  We 
are  told  that  your  religion  was  given  to  your  fore 
fathers  and  has  been  handed  down  from  father  to 
son.  We  also  have  a  religion,  which  was  given  to 


RED   JACKET.  315 

•our  forefathers,  and  has  been  handed  down  to  us, 
their  children.  We  worship  in  that  way.  It  teaches 
us  to  be  thankful  for  all  the  favors  we  receive;  to 
love  each  other  and  to  be  united.  We  never  quarrel 
about  religion. 

Brother,  the  Great  Spirit  has  made  us  all,  but  he  has 
made  a  great  difference  between  his  white  and  red 
children.  He  has  given  us  different  complexions  and 
different  customs.  To  you  he  has  given  the  arts. 
To  these  he  has  not  opened  our  eyes.  We  know  these 
things  to  be  true.  Since  he  has  made  so  great  a  differ 
ence  between  us  in  other  things,  why  may  we  not  con 
clude  that  he  has  given  us  a  different  religion  ac 
cording  to  our  understanding?  The  Great  Spirit 
does  right.  He  knows  what  is  best  for  his  children; 
we  are  satisfied. 

Brother,  we  do  not  wish  to  destroy  your  religion  or 
take  it  from  you.  We  only  want  to  enjoy  our  own. 

Brother,  you  say  you  have  not  come  to  get  our  land 
or  our  money,  but  to  enlighten  our  minds.  I  will  now 
tell  you  that  I  have  been  at  your  meetings  and  saw 
you  collect  money  from  the  meeting.  I  cannot  tell 
what  this  money  was  intended  for,  but  suppose  that 
it  was  for  your  minister,  and,  if  we  should  conform  to 
your  way  of  thinking,  perhaps  you  may  want  some 
from  us. 

Brother  we  are  told  that  you  have  been  preaching 
to  the  white  people  in  this  place.  These  people  are 
-our  neighbors.  We  are  acquainted  writh  them.  We 
will  wait  a  little  while  and  see  what  effect  your 
preaching  has  upon  them.  If  we  find  it  does  them 


RED   JACKET. 

good,  makes  them  honest,  and  less  disposed  to  cheat 
Indians,  we  will  then  consider  again  of  what  you  have 
said. 

Brother,  you  have  now  heard  our  answer  to  your 
talk,  and  this  is  all  we  have  to  say  at  present.  As 
we  are  going  to  part,  we  will  come  and  take  you  by 
the  hand,  and  hope  the  Great  Spirit  will  protect  you  on 
your  journey  and  return  you  safe  to  your  friends. 


MORRIS.  31/ 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  a  famous  American  statesman, 
orator  and  patriot,  born  at  Morrisania,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  31,  1752  ; 
died  there,  Nov.  6,  1816.  He  held  positions  of  prominence 
both  during  and  after  the  American  Revolution,  being  a 
member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  1777-80,  and  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  minister  to  France,  1792-94,  and 
United  States  Senator  from  New  York,  1800-03.  He  was 
an  able  actor  in  public  affairs,  a  clear  thinker,  and  a  fluent 
orator  whose  readiness  in  debate  excited  the  ire  of  his  oppo 
nents.  Morris's  speech  on  the  Judiciary  will  be  found  to 
convey  a  fair  impression  of  his  style. 


SPEECH  ON  THE  JUDICIARY. 

[Delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  on  January  14, 
1802,  on  the  motion,  "  Resolved  that  the  act  of  Congress  passed  on 
the  thirteenth  day  of  February,  1801,  entitled,  'An  act  to  provide 
for  the  more  convenient  organization  of  the  courts  of  the  United 
States,'  ought  to  be  repealed."] 

MR.  PRESIDENT, — I  had  fostered  the  hope  that  some 
gentleman  who  thinks  with  me  would  have  taken  upon 
himself  the  task  of  replying  to  the  observations  made 
yesterday  and  this  morning  in  favor  of  the  motion  on 
your  table.  But  since  no  gentleman  has  gone  so 
fully  into  the  subject  as  it  seems  to  require  I  am  com 
pelled  to  request  your  attention. 

We  were  told  yesterday  by  the  honorable  member 
from  Virginia  that  our  objections  were  calculated  for 
the  bystanders,  and  made  with  a  view  to  produce  effect 
upon  the  people  at  large.  I  know  not  for  whom  the 
charge  is  intended.  I  certainly  recollect  no  such  ob 
servations.  As  I  was  personally  charged  with  making 
a  play  upon  words,  it  may  have  been  intended  for  me. 


318  MORRIS. 

But  surely,  sir,  it  will  be  recollected  that  I  de 
clined  that  paltry  game,  and  declared  that  I  consid 
ered  the  verbal  criticism  which  had  been  relied  on  as 
irrelevant.  If  I  can  recollect  what  I  said  from  recol 
lecting  well  what  I  thought  and  meant  to  say,  sure  I 
am  that  I  uttered  nothing  in  the  style  of  an  appeal  ta 
the  people.  I  hope  no  member  of  this  House  has 
so  poor  a  sense  of  its  dignity  as  to  make  such  an  ap 
peal. 

As  to  myself,  it  is  now  near  thirty  years  since  I 
was  called  into  public  office.  During  that  period  I 
have  frequently  been  the  servant  of  the  people,  al 
ways  their  friend;  but  at  no  one  moment  of  my  life 
their  flatterer,  and  God  forbid  that  I  ever  should  be. 

When  the  honorable  gentleman  considers  the  course 
we  have  taken  he  must  see  that  the  observation  he 
has  thus  pointed  can  light  on  no  object.  I  trust  that 
it  did  not  flow  from  the  consciousness  of  his  own  in 
tentions.  He,  I  hope,  had  no  view  of  this  sort.  If 
he  had,  he  was  much,  very  much  mistaken.  Had  he 
looked  around  upon  those  who  honor  us  by  their 
attendance  he  would  have  seen  that  the  splendid 
flashes  of  his  wit  excited  no  approbatory  smile. 

The  countenances  of  those  by  whom  we  were  sur 
rounded  presented  a  different  spectacle.  They  were 
impressed  with  the  dignity  of  this  House;  they  per 
ceived  in  it  the  dignity  of  the  American  people  and 
felt,  with  high  and  manly  sentiment,  their  own  par 
ticipation. 

We  have  been  told,  sir,  by  the  honorable  gentleman 
from  Virginia,  that  there  is  no  independent  part  of 
this  government;  that  in  popular  governments  the 


MORRIS.  319 

force  of  every  department,  as  well  as  the  government 
itself,  must  depend  upon  popular  opinion. 

The  honorable  member  from  North  Carolina  has 
informed  us  that  there  is  no  check  for  the  overbearing 
powers  of  the  legislature  but  public  opinion;  and  he 
has  been  pleased  to  notice  a  sentiment  I  had  uttered — 
a  sentiment  which  not  only  fell  from  my  lips  but 
which  flowed  from  my  heart.  It  has,  however,  been 
misunderstood  and  misapplied.  After  reminding  the 
House  of  the  dangers  to  which  popular  governments 
are  exposed  from  the  influence  of  designing  dema 
gogues  upon  popular  passion,  I  took  the  liberty  to  say 
that  we — we  the  Senate  of  the  United  States — are 
assembled  here  to  save  the  people  from  their  most  dan 
gerous  enemy,  to  save  them  from  themselves;  to 
guard  them  against  the  baneful  effects  of  their  own 
precipitation,  their  passion,  their  misguided  zeal.  It 
is  for  these  purposes  that  all  our  constitutional  checks 
are  devised. 

If  this  be  not  the  language  of  the  constitution,  the 
constitution  is  all  nonsense.  For  why  are  the  Sena 
tors  chosen  by  communities  and  the  representatives 
.directly  by  the  people  ?  Why  are  the  one  chosen  for 
a  longer  term  than  the  other?  Why  give  one  branch 
of  the  legislature  a  negative  upon  the  acts  of  the  other  ? 
W^hy  give  the  President  a  right  to  arrest  the  proceed 
ings  of  both  till  two-thirds  of  each  should  concur? 
Why  all  these  multiplied  precautions  unless  to  check 
and  control  that  impetuous  spirit,  that  headlong  tor 
rent  of  opinion  which  has  swept  away  every  popular 
government  that  ever  existed? 

With  the  most  respectful  attention  I  heard  the  de- 


320  MORRIS. 

claration  of  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  of  his  own 
sentiment.  "  Whatever,"  said  he,  "  may  be  the 
opinion  of  the  constitution,  I  hold  myself  bound  to  re 
spect  it."  He  disdained,  sir,  to  profess  an  attachment 
he  did  not  feel,  and  I  accept  his  candor  as  a  pledge  for 
the  performance  of  his  duty.  But  he  will  admit  this 
necessary  inference  from  that  frank  confession  that,, 
although  he  will  struggle  against  his  inclination  and 
support  the  constitution  even  to  the  last  moment  yet 
when  in  spite  of  all  his  efforts  it  shall  fall,  he  will  re 
joice  in  its  destruction. 

Far  different  are  my  feelings. 

It  is  possible  that  we  are  both  prejudiced,  and  that 
in  taking  the  ground  on  which  we  respectively  stand 
our  judgments  are  influenced  by  the  sentiments 
which  glow  in  our  hearts.  I,  sir,  wish  to  support  this 
constitution  because  I  love  it;  and  I  love  it  because  I 
consider  it  the  bond  of  our  Union ;  because  in  my  soul 
I  believe  that  on  it  depends  our  harmony  and  our 
peace;  that  without  it  we  should  soon  be  plunged  in 
all  the  horrors  of  civil  war;  that  this  country  would 
be  deluged  with  the  blood  of  its  inhabitants  and  a 
brother's  hand  raised  against  the  bosom  of  a  brother. 

After  these  preliminary  remarks  I  hope  I  shall  be 
indulged  while  I  consider  the  subject  in  reference 
to  the  two  points  which  have  been  taken,  the  expe 
diency  and  the  constitutionality  of  the  repeal. 

In  considering  the  expediency  I  hope  I  shall  be  par 
doned  for  asking  your  attention  -to  some  parts  of  the 
constitution  which  have  not  yet  been  dwelt  upon  and 
which  tend  to  elucidate  this  part  of  our  inquiry.  I 
agree  fully  with  the  gentleman  that  every  section,, 


MORRIS.  321 

every  sentence,  and  every  word  of  the  constitution 
ought  to  be  deliberately  weighed  and  examined;  nay, 
I  am  content  to  go  along  with  him  and  give  its  due 
value  and  importance  to  every  stop  and  comma. 

In  the  beginning  we  find  a  declaration  of  the  mo 
tives  which  induced  the  American  people  to  bind  them 
selves  by  this  compact.  And  in  the  foreground  of 
that  declaration  we  find  these  objects  specified:  "to 
form  a  more  perfect  Union,  to  establish  justice,  and 
to  ensure  domestic  tranquillity."  But  how  are  these 
objects  effected?  The  people  intended  to  establish 
justice.  What  provision  have  they  made  to  fulfil  that 
intention  ?  After  pointing  out  the  courts  which  should 
be  established,  the  second  section  of  the  third  article 
informs  us, — 

— "  the  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases  in  law 
and  equity  arising  under  this  constitution,  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  and  treaties  made  or  which  shall 
be  made  under  their  authority;  to  all  cases  affecting 
ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls;  to  all 
cases  of  admiralty  and  maritime  jurisdiction;  to  con 
troversies  to  which  the  United  States  shall  be  a  party ; 
to  controversies  between  two  or  more  States ;  between 
a  State  and  citizens  of  another  State ;  between  citizens 
of  different  States ;  between  citizens  of  the  same  State 
claiming  lands  under  grants  of  different  States,  and 
between  a  State  or  the  citizens  thereof,  and  foreign 
States,  citizens,  or  subjects. 

"  In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public 
ministers  and  consuls,  and  those  in  which  a  State 
shall  be  a  party,  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have  orig- 


322  MORRIS. 

inal  jurisdiction.  In  all  the  other  cases  before  men 
tioned  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have  appellate  juris 
diction,  both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with  such  exceptions 
and  under  such  regulations  as  the  Congress  shall 
make." 

Thus,  then,  we  find  that  the  judicial  power  shall  ex 
tend  to  a  great  variety  of  cases,  but  that  the  Supreme 
Court  shall  have  only  appellate  jurisdiction  in  all  ad 
miralty  and  marine  causes,  in  all  controversies  between 
the  United  States  and  private  citizens,  between  citizens 
of  different  States,  between  citizens  of  the  same  State 
claiming  lands  under  different  States,  and  between 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States  and  foreign  States,  cit 
izens,  or  subjects. 

The  honorable  gentleman  from  Kentucky  who  made 
the  motion  on  your  table  has  told  us  that  the  consti 
tution,  in  its  judiciary  provisions,  contemplated  only 
those  cases  which  could  not  be  tried  in  the  State 
courts.  But  he  will,  I  hope,  pardon  me  when  I  con 
tend  that  the  constitution  did  not  merely  contemplate, 
but  did  by  express  words  reserve  to  the  national  tri 
bunals  a  right  to  decide  and  did  secure  to  the  citizens 
of  America  a  right  to  demand  their  decision  in  many 
cases  evidently  cognizable  in  the  State  courts.  And 
what  are  these  cases?  They  are  those  in  respect  to 
which  it  is  by  the  constitution  presumed  that  the  State 
courts  would  not  always  make  a  cool  and  calm  investi 
gation,  a  fair  and  just  decision. 

To  form,  therefore,  a  more  perfect  union  and  to 
ensure  domestic  tranquillity,  the  constitution  has  said 
there  shall  be  courts  of  the  Union  to  try  causes  by  the 


MORRIS.  323 

wrongful  decision  of  which  the  Union  might  be  en 
dangered  or  domestic  tranquillity  be  disturbed.  And 
what  courts?  Look  again  at  the  cases  designated. 
The  Supreme  Court  has  no  original  jurisdiction.  The 
constitution  has  said  that  the  judicial  powers  shall  be 
vested  in  the  Supreme  and  inferior  courts.  It  has  de 
clared  that  the  judicial  power  so  vested  shall  extend 
to  the  cases  mentioned,  and  that  the  Supreme  Court 
shall  not  have  original  jurisdiction  in  those  cases. 

Evidently,  therefore,  it  has  declared  that  they  shall, 
in  the  first  instance,  be  tried  by  inferior  courts,  with 
appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court.  This  therefore 
amounts  to  a  declaration  that  the  inferior  courts  shall 
exist;  since  without  them  the  citizen  is  deprived  of 
those  rights  for  which  he  stipulated,  or  rather,  those 
rights  verbally  granted  would  be  actually  withheld; 
and  that  great  security  of  our  Union,  that  necessary 
guard  of  our  tranquillity,  be  completely  paralyzed  if 
not  destroyed. 

In  declaring,  then,  that  these  tribunals  shall  exist, 
it  equally  declares  that  the  Congress  shall  ordain  and 
establish  them.  I  say  they  shall;  this  is  the  evident 
intention  if  not  the  express  words  of  the  constitution. 
The  convention  in  framing,  the  American  people  in 
adopting  that  compact,  did  not,  could  not,  presume 
that  the  Congress  would  omit  to  do  what  they  were 
thus  bound  to  do.  They  could  not  presume  that  the 
legislature  would  hesitate  one  moment  in  establishing 
the  organs  necessary  to  carry  into  effect  those  whole 
some,  those  important  provisions. 

The  honorable  member  from  Virginia  has  given  us 

a  history  of  the  judicial  system,  and  in  the  course  of 
ll—l 


324  MORRIS. 

it  has  told  us  that  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
knew,  when  they  accepted  their  offices,  the  duties  they 
had  to  perform  and  the  salaries  they  were  to  receive. 
He  thence  infers  that  if  again  called  on  to  do  the 
same  duties  they  have  no  right  to  complain. 

Agreed — but  that  is  not  the  question  between  us. 
Admitting  that  they  have  made  a  hard  bargain  and 
that  we  may  hold  them  to  a  strict  performance,  is  it 
wise  to  exact  their  compliance  to  the  injury  of  our 
constituents?  We  are  urged  to  go  back  to  the  old 
system ;  but  let  us  first  examine  the  effect  of  that  sys 
tem.  The  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  rode  the  cir 
cuits,  and  two  of  them,  with  the  assistance  of  a  district 
judge,  held  circuit  courts  and  tried  causes.  As  a 
Supreme  Court  they  have  in  most  cases  only  an  appel 
late  jurisdiction.  In  the  first  instance,  therefore,  they 
tried  a  cause  sitting  as  an  inferior  court,  and  then  on 
appeal  tried  it  over  again  as  a  supreme  court.  Thus, 
then,  the  appeal  was  from  the  sentence  of  the  judges 
to  the  judges  themselves.  But  say,  that  to  avoid  this 
impropriety,  you  will  incapacitate  the  two  judges  who 
sat  on  the  circuit  from  sitting  in  the  Supreme  Court 
to  review  their  owrn  decrees.  Strike  them  off;  and 
suppose  either  the  same  or  a  contrary  decision  to  have 
been  made  on  another  circuit  by  two  of  their  breth 
ren  in  a  similar  case,  for  the  same  reason  you  strike 
them  off  and  then  you  have  no  court  left.  Is  this 
wise?  Is  it  safe?  You  place  yourselves  in  the  situ 
ation  where  your  citizens  must  be  deprived  of  the  ad 
vantage  given  to  them  of  a  court  of  appeals,  or  else 
run  the  greatest  risk  that  the  decision  of  the  first  court 
will  carry  with  it  that  of  the  other. 


MORRIS.  325 

The  same  honorable  member  has  given  us  a  history 
of  the  law  passed  the  last  session,  which  he  wishes 
now  to  repeal.  That  history  is  accurate  at  least  in  one 
important  part  of  it.  I  believe  that  all  amendments 
were  rejected,  pertinaciously  rejected;  and  I  acknowl 
edge  that  I  joined  heartily  in  that  rejection.  It  was 
for  the  clearest  reason  on  earth.  We  all  perfectly  un 
derstood  that  to  amend  the  bill  was  to  destroy  it ;  that  if 
ever  it  got  back  to  the  other  House  it  would  perish. 
Those,  therefore,  who  approved  of  the  general  pro 
visions  of  that  bill  were  determined  to  adopt  it.  We 
sought  the  practicable  good,  and  would  not,  in  pursuit 
of  unattainable  perfection,  sacrifice  that  good  to  the 
pride  of  opinion.  We  took  the  bill,  therefore,  with  its 
imperfections,  convinced  that  when  it  was  once  passed 
into  a  law  it  might  be  easily  amended. 

We  are  now  told  that  this  procedure  was  improper ; 
nay,  that  it  was  indecent;  that  public  opinion  had 
declared  itself  against  us;  that  a  majority,  holding 
different  opinions,  was  already  chosen  to  the  other 
House,  and  that  a  similar  majority  was  expected  for 
that  in  which  we  sit.  Mr.  President,  are  we  then  to 
understand  that  opposition  to  the  majority  in  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress  is  improper,  is  indecent? 

If  so,  what  are  we  to  think  of  those  gentlemen  who, 
not  only  with  proper  and  decent  but  with  laudable  mo 
tives,  for  such  is  their  claim,  so  long,  so  perseveringly, 
so  pertinaciously  opposed  that  voice  of  the  people 
which  had  so  repeatedly  and  for  so  many  years  de 
clared  itself  against  them  through  the  organ  of  their 
representatives?  Was  this  indecent  in  them?  If  not, 
how  cculcl  it  be  improper  for  us  to  seize  the  only  mo- 


326  MORRIS. 

ment  which  was  left  for  the  then  majority  to  do  what 
they  deemed  a  necessary  act?  Let  me  again  refer  to 
those  imperious  demands  of  the  constitution  which 
called  on  us  to  establish  inferior  courts.  Let  me  re 
mind  gentlemen  of  their  assertion  on  this  floor  that 
centuries  might  elapse  before  any  judicial  system 
could  be  established  with  general  consent.  And  then 
let  me  ask,  being  thus  impressed  with  the  sense  of  the 
duty  and  the  difficulty  of  performing  that  arduous 
task,  was  it  not  wise  to  seize  the  auspicious  moment? 

Among  the  many  stigmas  affixed  to  this  law  we 
have  been  told  that  the  President,  in  selecting  men  to 
fill  the  offices  which  it  created,  made  vacancies  and 
filled  them  from  the  floor  of  this  House ;  and  that  but 
for  the  influence  of  this  circumstance  a  majority  in 
favor  of  it  could  not  have  been  found.  Let  us  ex 
amine  this  suggestion.  It  is  grounded  on  a  supposi 
tion  of  corrupt  influence,  derived  from  a  hope 
founded  on  two  remote  and  successive  contingencies. 

First,  the  vacancy  might  or  might  not  exist;  for  it 
depended  as  well  on  the  acceptance  of  another  as  on 
the  President's  grant;  and,  secondly,  the  President 
might  or  might  not  fill  it  with  a  member  of  this 
House. 

Yet  on  this  vague  conjecture,  on  this  unstable 
ground,  it  is  inferred  that  men  in  high  confidence  vio 
lated  their  duty.  It  is  hard  to  determine  the  influence 
of  self-interest  on  the  heart  of  man.  I  shall  not,  there 
fore,  make  the  attempt.  In  the  present  case  it  is  pos 
sible  that  the  imputation  may  be  just,  but  I  hope  not, 
I  believe  not.  At  any  rate  gentlemen  will  agree  with 


MORRIS.  327 

me  that  the  calculation  is  uncertain  and  the  conjec 
ture  vague. 

But  let  it  now  for  argument's  sake  be  admitted,  sav 
ing  always  the  reputation  of  honorable  men  who  are 
not  here  to  defend  themselves — let  it,  I  say,  for  argu 
ment's  sake  be  admitted  that  the  gentlemen  alluded  to 
acted  under  the  influence  of  improper  motives.  What 
then?  Is  a  law  that  has  received  the  varied  assent 
required  by  the  constitution  and  is  clothed  with  all  the 
needful  formalities  thereby  invalidated  ?  Can  you  im 
pair  its  force  by  impeaching  the  motives  of  any  mem 
ber  who  voted  for  it? 

Does  it  follow  that  a  law  is  bad  because  all  those 
who  concurred  in  it  cannot  give  good  reasons  for  their 
votes?  Is  it  not  before  us?  Must  we  not  judge  of  it 
by  its  intrinsic  merit?  Is  it  a  fair  argument,  address 
ed  to  our  understanding,  to  say  we  must  repeal  a  law, 
even  a  good  one,  if  the  enacting  of  it  may  have  been 
effected  in  any  degree  by  improper  motives?  Or  is 
the  judgment  of  this  House  so  feeble  that  it  may  not 
be  trusted  ? 

Gentlemen  tell  us,  however,  that  the  law  is  material 
ly  defective,  nay,  that  it  is  unconstitutional.  What 
follows?  Gentlemen  bid  us  repeal  it.  But  is  this  just 
reasoning?  If  the  law  be  only  defective,  why  not 
amend?  And  if  unconstitutional,  why  repeal?  In 
this  case  no  repeal  can  be  necessary;  the  law  is  in  it 
self  void;  it  is  a  mere  dead  letter.  .  .  . 

We  are  told  that  we  may  violate  our  constitution 
because  similar  constitutions  have  been  violated  else 
where.  Two  States  have  been  cited  to  that  effect, 
Maryland  and  Virginia.  The  honorable  gentleman 


328  MORRIS. 

from  Virginia  tells  us  that  when  this  happened  in  the 
State  he  belongs  to  no  complaint  was  made  by  the 
judges.  I  will  not  inquire  into  that  fact,  although  I 
have  the  protest  of  the  judges  now  lying  before  me : 
judges  eminent  for  their  talents,  renowned  for  their 
learning,  respectable  for  their  virtue.  I  will  not  in 
quire  what  constitutions  have  been  violated.  I  will 
not  ask  either  when  or  where  this  dangerous  prac 
tice  began  or  has  been  followed ;  I  will  admit  the  fact. 
What  does  it  prove  ?  Does  it  prove  that  because  they 
have  violated  we  also  may  violate  ?  Does  it  not  prove 
directly  the  contrary?  Is  it  not  the  strongest  reason 
on  earth  for  preserving  the  independence  of  our  trib 
unals?  If  it  be  true  that  they  have  with  strong  hand 
seized  their  courts  and  bent  them  to  their  will,  ought 
we  not  to  give  suitors  a  fair  chance  for  justice  in  our 
courts,  or  must  the  suffering  citizen  be  deprived  of  all 
protection  ? 

The  gentleman  from  Virginia  has  called  our  at 
tention  to  certain  cases  which  he  considers  as  forming 
necessary  exceptions  to  the  principles  for  which  we 
contend.  Permit  me  to  say  that  necessity  is  a  hard 
law  and  frequently  proves  too  much,  and  let  the  gen 
tleman  recollect  that  arguments  which  prove  too  much 
prove  nothing.  He  has  instanced  a  case  where  it  may 
be  proper  to  appoint  commissioners,  for  a  limited  time, 
to  settle  some  particular  description  of  controversies. 
Undoubtedly  it  is  always  in  the  power  of  Congress 
to  form  a  board  of  commissioners  for  particular  pur 
poses.  He  asks,  are  these  inferior  courts,  and  must 
they  also  exist  forever?  I  answer  that  the  nature  of 
their  offices  must  depend  on  the  law  by  which  they 


MORRIS.  329 

are  created;  if  called  to  exercise  the  judicial  functions 
designated  by  the  constitution  they  must  have  an  ex 
istence  conformable  to  its  injunctions. 

Again,  he  has  instanced  the  Mississippi  Territory, 
claimed  by  and  which  may  be  surrendered  to  the 
State  of  Georgia,  and  a  part  of  the  Union  which  may 
be  conquered  by  a  foreign  enemy.  And  he  asks,  tri 
umphantly,  are  our  inferior  courts  to  remain  after  our 
jurisdiction  is  gone  ?  This  case  rests  upon  a  principle 
so  simple  that  I  am  surprised  the  honorable  member 
did  not  perceive  the  answer  in  the  very  moment  when 
he  made  the  objection.  Is  it  by  our  act  that  a  country 
is  taken  from  us  by  a  foreign  enemy?  Is  it  by  our 
consent  that  our  jurisdiction  is  lost?  I  had  the  honor, 
in  speaking  the  other  day,  expressly  and  for  the  most 
obvious  reasons  to  except  the  case  of  conquest.  As 
well  might  we  contend  for  the  government  of  a  town 
swallowed  up  by  an  earthquake. 

[Mr.  Mason  explained :  he  had  supposed  the  case  of 
territory  conquered,  and  afterwards  ceded  to  the  con 
queror,  or  some  other  territory  ceded  in  lieu  of  it.] 

The  case  is  precisely  the  same;  until  after  the 
peace  the  conquest  is  not  complete.  Everybody 
knows  that  until  the  cession  by  treaty  the  original 
owrner  has  the  postliminar  right  to  a  territory  taken 
from  him.  Beyond  all  question,  where  Congress  is 
compelled  to  cede  the  territory,  the  judges  can  no 
longer  exist  unless  the  new  sovereign  confer  the 
office.  Over  such  territory  the  constitution  ceases  and 
of  course  the  rights  which  it  confers. 


33O  MORRIS. 

It  is  said  the  judicial  institution  is  intended  for 
the  benefit  of  the  people  and  not  of  the  judge;  and  it 
is  complained  of  that  in  speaking  of  the  office  we  say 
it  is  his  office.  Undoubtedly  the  institution  is  for  the 
benefit  of  the  people.  But  the  question  remains,  how 
will  it  be  rendered  most  beneficial?  Is  it  by  making 
the  judge  independent, — by  making  it  his  office;  or 
is  it  by  placing  him  in  a  state  of  abject  dependence, 
so  that  the  office  shall  be  his  to-day  and  belong  to  an 
other  to-morrow  ?  Let  the  gentleman  hear  the  words 
of  the  constitution:  it  speaks  of  their  offices;  conse 
quently,  as  applied  to  a  single  judge,  of  his  office,  to 
be  exercised  by  him  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of 
America,  to  which  exercise  his  independence  is  as  ne 
cessary  as  his  office. 

The  gentleman  from  Virginia  has  on  this  occasion 
likened  the  judge  to  a  bridge  and  to  various  other  ob 
jects;  but  I  hope  for  his  pardon  if,  while  I  admire  the 
lofty  flights  of  his  eloquence,  I  abstain  from  noticing 
observations  which  I  conceive  to  be  utterly  irrelevant. 

The  same  honorable  member  has  not  only  given  us 
his  history  of  the  Supreme  Court,  but  has  told  us  of 
the  manner  in  which  they  do  business,  and  expressed 
his  fears  that,  having  little  else  to  do,  they  would  do 
mischief.  We  are  not  competent,  sir,  to  examine,  nor 
ought  we  to  prejudge  their  conduct.  I  am  persuad 
ed  they  will  do  their  duty,  and  presume  they  will  have 
the  decency  to  believe  that  we  do  our  duty.  In  so 
far  as  they  may  be  busied  with  the  great  mischief  of 
checking  the  legislative  or  executive  departments  in 
any  wanton  invasion  of  our  rights  I  shall  rejoice  in 
that  mischief.  I  hope,  indeed,  they  will  not  be  so 


MORRIS.  331 

busied,  because  I  hope  we  shall  give  them  no  cause. 
But  I  also  hope  they  will  keep  an  eagle  eye  upon  us  lest 
we  should.  It  was  partly  for  this  purpose  they  were 
established,  and  I  trust  that  when  properly  called  on 
they  will  dare  to  act.  I  know  this  doctrine  is  unpleas 
ant  ;  I  know  it  is  more  popular  to  appeal  to  public  opin 
ion  :  that  equivocal  transient  being  which  exists  no- 
Avhere  and  everywhere.  But  if  ever  the  occasion  calls 
for  it  I  trust  that  the  Supreme  Court  will  not  neglect 
doing  the  great  mischief  of  saving  this  constitution, 
which  can  be  done  much  better  by  their  deliberations 
than  by  resorting  to  what  are  called  revolutionary 
measures. 

The  honorable  member  from  North  Carolina,  sore 
pressed  by  the  delicate  situation  in  which  he  is  placed, 
thinks  he  has  discovered  a  new  argument  in  favor  of 
the  vote  which  he  is  instructed  to  give.  As  far  as  I 
can  enter  into  his  ideas  and  trace  their  progress  he 
seems  to  have  assumed  the  position  which  was  to  be 
proved,  and  then  searched  through  the  constitution, 
not  to  discover  whether  the  legislature  have  the  right 
contended  for,  but  whether,  admitting  them  to  pos 
sess  it,  there  may  not  be  something  which  might  not 
comport  with  that  idea.  I  shall  state  the  honorable 
member's  argument  as  I  understand  it,  and,  if  mistak 
en,  pray  to  be  corrected.  He  read  to  us  that  clause 
which  relates  to  impeachment,  and  comparing  it  with 
that  which  fixes  the  tenure  of  judicial  office,  observ 
ed  that  this  clause  must  relate  solely  to  a  removal  by 
the  executive  power,  whose  right  to  remove,  though 
not  indeed  anywhere  mentioned  in  the  constitution, 


332  MORRIS. 

has  been  admitted  in  a  practice  founded  on  legislative 
construction. 

That,  as  the  tenure  of  the  office  is  during  good  be 
havior,  and,  as  the  clause  respecting  impeachment  does 
not  specify  misbehavior,  there  is  evidently  a  cause  of 
removal  which  cannot  be  reached  by  impeachment,  and 
of  course,  the  executive  not  being  permitted  to  re 
move,  the  right  must  necessarily  devolve  on  the  legis- 
ture.  Is  this  the  honorable  member's  argument  ?  If  it 
be,  the  reply  is  very  simple.  Misbehavior  is  not  a 
term  known  in  our  law;  the  idea  is  expressed  by  the 
word  "  misdemeanor ;"  which  word  is  in  the  clause 
quoted  respecting  impeachments.  Taking,  therefore, 
the  two  together,  and  speaking  plain  old  English,  the 
constitution  says : 

"The  judges  shall  hold  their  offices  so  long  as 
they  shall  demean  themselves  wrell;  but  if  they  shall 
misdemean,  if  they  shall,  on  impeachment,  be  convict 
ed  of  misdemeanor,  they  shall  be  removed." 

Thus,  sir,  the  honorable  member  will  find  that  the 
one  clause  is  just  as  broad  as  the  other.  He  will  see, 
therefore,  that  the  legislature  can  assume  no  right 
from  the  deficiency  of  either,  and  will  find  that  this 
clause,  which  he  relied  on,  goes,  if  rightly  understood, 
to  the  confirmation  of  our  doctrine. 

Is  there  a  member  of  this  House  who  can  lay  his 
hand  on  his  heart  and  say  that  consistently  with  the 
plain  words  of  our  constitution  we  have  a  right  to  re 
peal  this  law?  I  believe  not.  And  if  we  undertake 
to  construe  this  constitution  to  our  purposes  and  say 


MORRIS.  335; 

that  public  opinion  is  to  be  our  judge,  there  is  an  end 
to  all  constitutions.  To  what  will  not  this  dangerous- 
doctrine  lead?  Should  it  to-day  be  the  popular  wish 
to  destroy  the  first  magistrate,  you  can  destroy  him; 
and  should  he  to-morrow  be  able  to  conciliate  to  him 
self  the  will  of  the  people  and  lead  them  to  wish  for 
your  destruction,  it  is  easily  effected.  Adopt  this 
principle,  and  the  whim  of  the  moment  will  not  only 
be  the  law  but  the  constitution  of  our  country. 

The  gentleman  from  Virginia  has  mentioned  a 
great  nation  brought  to  the  feet  of  one  of  her  ser 
vants.  But  why  is  she  in  that  situation  ?  Is  it  not  be 
cause  popular  opinion  was  called  on  to  decide  every 
thing  until  those  who  wore  bayonets  decided  for  all 
the  rest?  Our  situation  is  peculiar.  At  present  our 
national  compact  can  prevent  a  State  from  acting  hos- 
tilely  towards  the  general  interest.  But  let  this  com 
pact  be  destroyed,  and  each.  State  becomes  instan 
taneously  vested  with  absolute  sovereignty.  Is  there 
no  instance  of  a  similar  situation  to  be  found  in  his 
tory?  Look  at  the  States  of  Greece.  They  were  once 
in  a  condition  not  unlike  to  that  in  which  we  should 
then  stand.  They  treated  the  recommendations  of  their 
;  Amphictyonic  council,  which  wras  more  a  meeting  of 
,  ambassadors  than  a  legislative  assembly,  as  we  did  the 
;  resolutions  of  the  old  Congress.  Are  we  wise?  So 
:  were  they.  Are  we  valiant?  They  also  were  brave. 
Have  we  one  common  language  and  are  we  united 
under  one  head?  In  this  also  there  was  a  strong  re 
semblance.  But  by  their  divisions  they  become  at  first 
victims  to  the  ambition  of  Philip,  and  were  at  length 
swallowed  up  in  the  Roman  Empire.  Are  we  to  form 


334  MORRIS. 

an  exception  to  the  general  principles  of  human  na 
ture  and  to  all  the  examples  of  history?  And  are  the 
maxims  of  experience  to  become  false  when  applied 
to  our  fate? 

Some,  indeed,  flatter  themselves  that  our  destiny 
will  be  like  that  of  Rome.  Such  indeed  it  might  be, 
if  we  had  'the  same  wise,  but  vile  aristocracy  under 
whose  guidance  they  became  the  masters  of  the  world. 
But  we  have  not  that  strong  aristocratic  arm  which 
can  seize  a  wretched  citizen,  scourged  almost  to  death 
by  a  remorseless  creditor,  turn  him  into  the  ranks,  and 
bid  him,  as  a  soldier,  bear  our  eagle  in  triumph  round 
the  globe !  I  hope  to  God  we  shall  never  have  such  an 
abominable  institution.  But  what,  I  ask,  will  be  the 
situation  of  these  States,  organized  as  they  now  are, 
if  by  the  dissolution  of  our  national  compact  they  be 
left  to  themselves  ?  What  is  the  probable  result  ?  We 
shall  either  be  the  victims  of  foreign  intrigue  and  split 
into  factions,  fall  under  'the  domination  of  a  foreign 
power,  or  else,  after  the  misery  and  torment  of  civil 
war,  become  the  subjects  of  a  usurping  military  des 
pot.  What  but  this  compact,  what  but  this  specific 
part  of  it,  can  save  us  from  ruin  ? 

The  judicial  power,  that  fortress  of  the  constitu 
tion,  is  now  to  be  overturned.  Yes,  with  honest  Ajax, 
I  would  not  only  throw  a  shield  before  it,  I  would  build 
around  it  a  wall  of  brass.  But  I  am  too  weak  to  de 
fend  the  rampart  against  the  host  of  assailants.  I 
must  call  to  my  assistance  their  good  sense,  their  patri 
otism  and  their  virtue.  Do  not,  gentlemen,  suffer  the 
rage  of  passion  to  drive  reason  from  her  seat.  If  this 
law  be  indeed  bad,  let  us  join  to  remedy  the  defects. 


MORRIS.  335 

Has  it  been  passed  in  a  manner  which  wounded  your 
pride  or  roused  your  resentment?  Have,  I  conjure 
you,  the  magnanimity  to  pardon  that  offence.  I  en 
treat,  I  implore  you,  to  sacrifice  those  angry  passions 
to  the  interests  of  our  country.  Pour  out  this  pride  of 
opinion  on  the  altar  of  patriotism.  Let  it  be  an  ex 
piatory  libation  for  the  weal  of  America.  Do  not,  for 
God's  sake,  do  not  suffer  that  pride  to  plunge  us  all 
into  the  abyss  of  ruin. 

Indeed,  indeed,  it  will  be  but  of  little,  very  little 
avail,  whether  one  opinion  or  the  other  be  right  or 
wrong;  it  will  heal  no  wounds,  it  will  pay  no  debts,  it 
will  rebuild  no  ravaged  towns.  Do  not  rely  on  that 
popular  will  which  has  brought  us  frail  beings  into  po 
litical  existence.  That  opinion  is  but  a  changeable 
thing.  It  will  soon  change.  This  very  measure  will 
change  it.  You  will  be  deceived.  Do  not,  I  beseech 
you,  in  reliance  on  a  foundation  so  frail,  commit  the 
dignity,  the  harmony,  the  existence  of  our  nation  to 
the  wild  wind.  Trust  not  your  treasure  to  the  waves. 
Throw  not  your  compass  and  your  charts  into  the 
ocean.  Do  not  believe  that  its  billows  will  waft  you 
into  port.  Indeed,  indeed,  you  will  be  deceived.  Cast 
not  away  this  only  anchor  of  our  safety.  I  have  seen 
its  progress.  I  know  the  difficulties  through  which  it 
was  obtained:  I  stand  in  the  presence  of  Almighty 
God  and  of  the  world ;  and  I  declare  to  you  that  if  you 
lose  this  charter,  never!  no,  never  will  you  get  an 
other!  We  are  now  perhaps  arrived  at  the  parting 
point.  Here,  even  here,  we  stand  on  the  brink  of  fate. 
Pause — pause — for  heaven's  sake,  pause ! ! 


336  MARSHALL. 

Marshall,  John,  a  distinguished  American  jurist,  born 
at  Germantown,  Fauquier  County,  Va.,  Sept.  24,  1755  ;  died 
at  Philadelphia,  July  6,  1835.  He  served  in  the  American 
struggle  for  Independence,  was  envoy  to  France,  1797-98; 
member  of  Congress  from  Virginia,  1799-1800;  Secretary 
of  State,  1 800-0 T,  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States, 
1801-35.  With  his  coadjutors  Marshall  laid  the  foundations 
of  American  national  jurisprudence  and  developed  the  great 
body  of  American  constitutional  law.  His  mind  was  strongly 
judicial  in  its  cast  and  accuracy,  and  sound  reasoning  char 
acterized  his  writings  and  speeches.  His  speech  upon  the 
Federal  Constitution  exemplifies  his  style.  The  centennial 
of  his  appointment  to  the  chief -justiceship  was  observed 
in  Washington  in  February,  1901. 


SPEECH  ON  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITU 
TION. 

DELIVERED  JUNE   IO,    1788. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN, — I  conceive  that  the  object  of  the 
discussion  now  before  us  is  whether  democracy  or 
despotism  be  most  eligible.  I  am  sure  that  those 
who  framed  the  system  submitted  to  our  investiga 
tion,  and  those  who  now  support  it,  intend  the  estab 
lishment  and  security  of  the  former.  The  supporters 
of  the  constitution  claim  the  title  of  being  firm  friends 
of  the  liberty  and  the  rights  of  mankind.  They  say 
that  they  consider  it  as  the  best  means  of  protecting 
liberty.  We,  sir,  idolize  democracy.  Those  who 
oppose  it  have  bestowed  eulogiums  on  monarchy.  We 
prefer  this  system  to  any  monarchy  because  we  are 
convinced  tha^  it  has  a  greater  tendency  to  secure  our 


MARSHALL.  337 

liberty  and  promote  our  happiness.  We  admire  it 
because  we  think  it  a  well-regulated  democracy:  it  is 
recommended  to  the  good  people  of  this  country: 
they  are,  through  us,  to  declare  whether  it  be  such  a 
plan  of  government  as  will  establish  and  secure  their 
freedom. 

Permit  me  to  attend  to  what  the  honorable  gentle 
man,  Mr.  Henry,  has  said.  He  has  expatiated  on  the 
necessity  of  a  due  attention  to  certain  maxims,  to  cer 
tain  fundamental  principles,  from  which  a  free  peo 
ple  ought  never  to  depart.  I  concur  with  him  in  the 
propriety  of  the  observance  of  such  maxims.  They 
are  necessary  in  any  government,  but  more  essential 
to  a  democracy  than  to  any  other. 

What  are  the  favorite  maxims  of  democracy? 

A  strict  observance  of  justice  and  public  faith  and 
a  steady  adherence  to  virtue.  These,  sir,  are  the 
principles  of  a  good  government.  No  mischief,  no 
misfortune,  ought  to  deter  us  from  a  strict  observance 
of  justice  and  public  faith.  Would  to  heaven  that  these 
principles  had  been  observed  under  the  present  gov 
ernment!  Had  this  been  the  case  the  friends  of  lib 
erty  would  not  be  so  willing  now  to  part  with  it.  Can 
we  boast  that  our  government  is  founded  on  these 
maxims  ?  Can  we  pretend  to  the  enjoyment  of  politi 
cal  freedom  or  security  when  we  are  told  that  a  man 
has  been,  by  an  act  of  Assembly,  struck  out  of  exist 
ence  without  a  trial  by  jury,  without  examination, 
without  being  confronted  with  his  accusers  and  wit 
nesses,  without  the  benefits  of  the  law  of  the  land? 
Where  is  our  safety  when  we  are  told  that  this  act 
was  justifiable  because  the  person  was  not  a  Socrates  ? 


338  MARSHALL. 

What  has  become  of  the  worthy  member's  maxims? 
Is  this  one  of  them  ?  Shall  it  be  a  maxim  that  a  man 
shall  be  deprived  of  his  life  without  the  benefit  of 
law?  Shall  such  a  deprivation  of  life  be  justified  by 
answering,  that  the  man's  life  was  not  taken  secun- 
dum  artem,  because  he  was  a  bad  man  ?  Shall  it  be  a 
maxim  that  government  ought  not  to  be  empowered  to 
protect  virtue? 

The  honorable  member,  after  attempting  to  vindi 
cate  that  tyrannical  legislative  act  to  which  I  have  been 
alluding,  proceeded  to  take  a  view  of  the  dangers  to 
which  this  country  is  exposed.  He  told  us  that  the 
principal  danger  arose  from  a  government  which,  if 
adopted,  would  give  away  the  Mississippi. 

I  intended  to  proceed  regularly,  by  attending  to  the 
clause  under  debate;  but  I  must  reply  to  some  ob 
servations  which  were  dwelt  upon  to  make  impres 
sions  on  our  minds  unfavorable  to  the  plan  upon  the 
table.  Have  we  no  navigation  in,  or  do  we  derive  no 
benefit  from,  the  Mississippi?  How  shall  we  retain 
it?  By  retaining  that  weak  government  which  has 
hitherto  kept  it  from  us?  Is  it  thus  that  we  shall  se 
cure  that  navigation?  Give  the  government  the  power 
of  retaining  it  and  then  we  may  hope  to  derive  actual 
advantages  from  it.  Till  we  do  this  we  cannot  ex 
pect  that  a  government  which  hitherto  has  not  been 
able  to  protect  it  will  have  the  power  to  do  it  here 
after.  Have  we  attended  too  long  to  consider  whether 
this  government  would  be  able  to  protect  us?  Shall 
we  wak  for  further  proofs  of  its  inefficacy?  If  on  ma 
ture  consideration  the  constitution  will  be  found  to  be 
perfectly  right  on  the  subject  of  treaties,  and  contain- 


MARSHALL.  339 

ing  no  danger  of  losing  that  navigation,  will  he  still 
object?  Will  he  object  because  eight  States  are  un 
willing  to  part  with  it?  This  is  no  good  ground  of 
objection. 

He  then  stated  the  necessity  and  probability  of  ob 
taining  amendments.  This  we  ought  to  postpone  un 
til  we  come  to  that  clause,  and  make  up  our  minds 
whether  there  be  anything  unsafe  in  this  system.  He 
conceived  it  impossible  to  obtain  amendments  after 
adopting  it.  If  he  was  right,  does  not  his  own  argu 
ment  prove  that  in  his  own  conception  previous 
amendments  cannot  be  had?  for,  sir,  if  subsequent 
amendments  cannot  be  obtained,  shall  we  get  amend 
ments  before  we  ratify?  The  reasons  against  the  lat 
ter  do  not  apply  against  the  former. 

There  are  in  this  State,  and  in  every  State  in  the 
Union,  many  who  are  decided  enemies  of  the  Union. 
Reflect  on  the  probable  conduct  of  such  men.  What 
will  they  do  ?  They  will  bring  amendments  which  are 
local  in  their  nature  and  which  they  know  will  not 
be  accepted.  What  security  have  we  that  other  States 
will  not  do  the  same.  We  are  told  that  many  in 
the  States  were  violently  opposed  to  it.  They  are 
more  mindful  of  local  interests.  They  will  never 
propose  such  amendments  as  they  think  would  be  ob 
tained. 

Disunion  will  be  their  object.  This  will  be  attain 
ed  by  the  proposal  of  unreasonable  amendments.  This, 
sir,  though  a  strong  cause,  is  not  the  only  one  that  will 
militate,  against  previous  amendments.  Look  at  the 
comparative  temper  of  this  country  now,  and  when  the 
late  Federal  Convention  met.  We  had  no  idea  then  of 


340  MARSHALL. 

any  particular  system.  The  formation  of  the  most  per 
fect  plan  was  our  object  and  wish.  It  was  imagined 
that  the  States  would  accede  to,  and  be  pleased  with, 
the  proposition  that  would  be  made  them.  Consider 
the  violence  of  opinions,  the  prejudices  and  animosi 
ties  which  have  been  since  imbibed. 

Will  not  these  operate  greatly  against  mutual  con 
cessions  or  a  friendly  concurrence?  This  will,  how 
ever,  be  taken  up  more  properly  another  time.  He 
says  we  wish  to  have  a  strong,  energetic,  powerful 
government.  We  contend  for  a  well-regulated  democ 
racy.  He  insinuates  that  the  power  of  the  govern 
ment  has  been  enlarged  by  the  convention,  and  that 
we  may  apprehend  it  will  be  enlarged  by  others.  The 
convention  did  not  in  fact  assume  any  power. 

They  have  proposed  to  our  consideration  a  scheme 
of  government  which  they  thought  advisable.  We  are 
not  bound  to  adopt  it  if  we  disapprove  of  it.  Had  not 
every  individual  in  this  cornmunity  a  right  to  tender 
that  scheme  which  he  thought  most  conducive  to  the 
welfare  of  his  country?  Have  not  several  gentlemen 
already  demonstrated  that  the  convention  did  not  ex 
ceed  their  powers  ?  But  the  Congress  have  the  pow 
er  of  making  bad  laws,  it  seems.  The  Senate,  with 
the  President,  he  informs  us,  may  make  a  treaty 
which  shall  be  disadvantageous  to  us ;  and  that,  if  they 
be  not  good  men,  it  will  not  be  a  good  constitution.  I 
shall  ask  the  worthy  member  only  if  the  people  at 
large,  and  they  alone,  ought  to  make  laws  and  treaties. 
Has  any  man  this  in  contemplation? 

You  cannot  exercise  the  powers  of  government  per 
sonally  yourselves.  You  must  trust  to  agents.  If  so, 


MARSHALL.  341 

wiU  you  dispute  giving  them  the  power  of  acting  for 
you,  from  an  existing  possibility  that  they  may  abuse 
it  ?  As  long  as  it  is  impossible  for  you  to  transact  your 
business  in  person,  if  you  repose  no  confidence  in 
delegates  because  there  is  a  possibility  of  their  abus 
ing  it,  you  can  have  no  government ;  for  the  power  of 
doing  good  is  inseparable  from  that  of  doing  some 
evil. 

We  may  derive  from  Holland  lessons  very  benefi 
cial  to  ourselves.  Happy  that  country  which  can 
avail  itself  of  the  misfortunes  of  others,  which  can 
gain  knowledge  from  that  source  without  fatal  ex 
perience  !  What  has  produced  the  late  disturbances 
in  that  country?  The  want  of  such  a  government  as 
is  on  your  table,  and  having  in  -some  measure  such 
a  one  as  you  are  about  to  part  with.  The  want  of 
proper  powers  in  the  government,  the  consequent  de 
ranged  and  relaxed  administration,  the  violence  of 
contending  parties,  and  inviting  foreign  powers  to  in 
terpose  in  their  disputes,  have  subjected  them  to  all 
the  mischiefs  which  have  interrupted  their  harmony. 

I  cannot  express  my  astonishment  at  his  high-color 
ed  eulogium  on  such  a  government.  Can  anything  be 
more  dissimilar  than  the  relation  between  the  British 
government  and  the  colonies,  and  the  relation  between 
Congress  and  the  States?  We  were  not  represented 
in  Parliament.  Here  we  are  represented.  Argu 
ments  which  prove  the  impropriety  of  being  taxed  by 
Britain  do  not  hold  against  the  exercise  of  taxation 
by  Congress. 

Let  me  pay  attention  to  the  observation  of  the 
gentleman  who  was  last  up,  that  the  power  of  taxa- 


342  MARSHALL. 

tion  ought  not  to  be  given  to  Congress.  This  subject 
requires  the  undivided  attention  of  this  House.  This 
power  I  think  essentially  necessary;  for  without  it  there 
will  be  no  efficiency  in  the  government.  We  have  had 
a  sufficient  demonstration  of  the  vanity  of  depending 
on  requisitions.  How,  then,  can  the  general  govern 
ment  exist  without  this  power  ?  The  possibility  of  its 
being  abused  is  urged  as  an  argument  against  its  ex 
pediency.  To  very  little  purpose  did  Virginia  dis 
cover  the  defects  in  the  old  system;  to  little  purpose 
indeed  did  she  propose  improvements;  and  to  no  pur 
pose  is  this  plan  constructed  for  the  promotion  of  our 
happiness  if  we  refuse  it  now  because  it  is  possible  that 
it  may  be  abused  ? 

The  confederation  has  nominal  powers  but  no 
means  to  carry  them  into  effect.  If  a  system  of  gov 
ernment  were  devised  by  more  than  human  intelli 
gence  it  would  not  be  effectual  if  the  means  were 
not  adequate  to  the  power.  All  delegated  powers 
are  liable  to  be  abused.  Arguments  drawn  from  this 
source  go  in  direct  opposition  to  the  government  and 
in  recommendation  of  anarchy. 

The  friends  of  the  constitution  are  as  tenacious  of 
liberty  as  its  enemies.  They  wish  to  give  no  power 
that  will  endanger  it.  They  wish  to  give  the  govern 
ment  powers  to  secure  and  protect  it.  Our  inquiry 
here  must  be  whether  the  power  of  taxation  be  ne 
cessary  to  perform  the  objects  of  the  constitution  and 
whether  it  be  safe  and  as  well  guarded  as  human  wis 
dom  can  do  it.  What  are  the  objects  of  the  national 
government?  To  protect  the  United  States  and  to 
promote  the  general  welfare.  Protection  in  time  of 


MARSHALL.  343 

war  is  one  of  its  principal  objects.  Until  mankind 
shall  cease  to  have  ambition  and  avarice,  wars  will 
arise. 

The  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the  people  depend 
on  the  performance  of  these  great  and  important  du 
ties  of  the  general  government.  Can  these  duties  be 
performed  by  one  State?  Can  one  State  protect  us 
and  promote  our  happiness?  The  honorable  gentle 
man  who  has  gone  before  me,  Governor  Randolph, 
has  shown  that  Virginia  cannot  do  these  things.  How, 
then,  can  they  be  done  ?  By  the  national  government 
only.  Shall  we  refuse  to  give  it  power  to  do  them? 

We  are  answered  that  the  powers  may  be  abused; 
that,  though  the  Congress  may  promote  our  happiness, 
yet  they  may  prostitute  their  powers  to  destroy  our 
liberties.  This  goes  to  the  destruction  of  all  confi 
dence  in  agents.  Would  you  believe  that  men  who 
had  merited  your  highest  confidence  would  deceive 
you?  Would  you  trust  them  again  after  one  decep 
tion  ?  Why  then  hesitate  to  trust  the  general  govern 
ment?  The  object  of  our  inquiry  is,  Is  the  power  ne 
cessary  and  is  it  guarded?  There  must  be  men  and 
money  to  protect  us.  How  are  armies  to  be  raised? 
Must  we  not  have  money  for  that  purpose  ? 

But  the  honorable  gentleman  says  that  we  need  not 
be  afraid  of  war.  Look  at  history,  which  has  been  so 
often  quoted.  Look  at  the  great  volume  of  human 
nature.  They  will  foretell  you  that  a  defenceless 
country  cannot  be  secure.  The  nature  of  man  for 
bids  us  to  conclude  that  we  are  in  no  danger  from 
war.  The  passions  of  men  stimulate  them  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  weakness  of  others.  The  powers  of 


344  MARSHALL. 

Europe  are  jealous  of  us.  It  is  our  interest  to  watch 
their  conduct  and  guard  against  them.  They  must 
be  pleased  with  our  disunion.  If  we  invite  them  by 
our  weakness  to  attack  us  will  they  not  do  it?  If  we 
add  debility  to  our  present  situation  a  partition  of 
America  may  take  place. 

It  is,  then,  necessary  to  give  the  government  that 
power,  in  time  of  peace,  which  the  necessity  of  war 
will  render  indispensable,  or  else  we  shall  be  attacked 
unprepared.  The  experience  of  the  world,  a  knowl 
edge  of  human  nature,  and  our  own  particular  experi 
ence,  will  confirm  this  truth.  When  danger  shall  come 
upon  us,  may  we  not  do  what  we  were  on  the  point  of 
doing  once  already — that  is,  appoint  a  dictator? 
Were  those  who  are  now  friends  to  this  constitution 
less  active^ in  the  defence  of  liberty  on  that  trying  oc 
casion  than  those  who  oppose  it  ?  When  foreign  dan 
gers  come,  may  not  the  fear  of  immediate  destruction 
by  foreign  enemies  impel  us  to  lake  a  most  dangerous 
step?  Where,  then,  will  be  our  safety? 

We  may  now  regulate  and  frame  a  plan  that  will 
enable  us  to  repel  attacks  and  render  a  recurrence  to 
dangerous  expedients  unnecessary.  If  we  be  prepar 
ed  to  defend  ourselves  there  will  be  little  inducement 
to  attack  us.  But  if  we  defer  giving  the  necessary 
power  to  the  general  government  till  the  moment  of 
danger  arrives  we  shall  give  it  then,  and  with  an  un 
sparing  hand.  America,  like  other  nations,  may  be 
exposed  to  war.  The  propriety  of  giving  this  power 
will  be  proved  by  the  history  of  the  world,  and  partic 
ularly  of  modern  republics.  I  defy  you  to  produce  a 
single  instance  where  requisitions  on  several  individual 


MARSHALL.  345 

States  composing  a  confederacy  have  been  honestly 
complied  with.  Did  gentlemen  expect  to  see  such 
punctuality  complied  with  in  America?  If  they  did, 
our  own  experience  shows  the  contrary. 

We  are  told  that  the  confederation  carried  us 
through  the  war.  Had  not  the  enthusiasm  of  liberty 
inspired  us  wTith  unanimity  that  system  would  never 
have  carried  us  through  it.  It  would  have  been  much 
sooner  terminated  had  that  government  been  possessed 
of  due  energy.  The  inability  of  Congress  and  the 
failure  of  States  to  comply  with  the  constitutional 
requisitions  rendered  our  resistance  less  efficient  than 
it  might  have  been.  The  weakness  of  that  government 
caused  troops  to  be  against  us  which  ought  to  have 
been  on  our  side,  and  prevented  all  resources  of  the 
community  from  being  called  at  once  into  action. 

The  extreme  readiness  of  the  people  to  make  their 
utmost  exertions  to  ward  off  solely  the  pressing  dan 
ger  supplied  the  place  of  requisitions.  When  they 
came  solely  to  be  depended  on  their  inutility  was  ful 
ly  discovered.  A  bare  sense  of  duty,  or  a  regard  to 
propriety,  is  too  feeble  to  induce  men  to  comply  with 
obligations.  We  deceive  ourselves  if  we  expect  any 
efficacy  from  these.  If  requisitions  will  not  avail,  the 
government  must  have  the  sinews  of  war  some  other 
way.  Requisitions  cannot  be  effectual.  They  will  be 
productive  of  delay  and  will  ultimately  be  inefficient. 
By  direct  taxations  the  necessities  of  the  government 
will  be  supplied  in  a  peaceable  manner  without  irri 
tating  the  minds  of  the  people. 

But  requisitions  cannot  be  rendered  efficient  with 
out  a  civil  war,  without  great  expense  of  money,  and 


346  MARSHALL. 

the  blood  of  our  citizens.  Are  there  any  other  means  ? 
Yes,  that  Congress  shall  apportion  the  respective  quo 
tas  previously,  and,  if  not  complied  with  by  the  States,- 
that  then  this  dreaded  power  shall  apportion  the  re 
spective  quotas  previously,  and,  if  not  by  the  gentleman 
who  opened  the  debate.  He  cannot  be  answered.  This 
great  objection  to  that  system  remains  unanswered.  Is 
there  no  other  argument  which  ought  to  have  weight 
with  us  on  this  subject  ?  Delay  is  a  strong  and  pointed 
objection  to  it. 

We  are  told  by  the  gentleman  who  spoke  last  that 
direct  taxation  is  unnecessary  because  we  are  not  in 
volved  in  war.  This  admits  the  propriety  of  recurring 
to  direct  taxation  if  we  were  engaged  in  war.  It  has 
not  been  proved  that  we  have  no  dangers  to  apprehend 
on  this  point.  What  will  be  the  consequence  of  the 
system  proposed  by  the  worthy  gentleman?  Suppose 
the  States  should  refuse? 

The  worthy  gentleman  who  is  so  pointedly  opposed 
to  the  constitution  proposes  remonstrances.  Is  it  a 
time  for  Congress  to  remonstrate  or  compel  a  compli 
ance  with  requisitions  when  the  whole  wisdom  of  the 
Union  and  the  power  of  Congress  are  opposed  to  a 
foreign  enemy?  Another  alternative  is,  that,  if  the 
States  shall  appropriate  certain  funds  for  the  use  of 
Congress,  Congress  shall  not  lay  direct  taxes. 

Suppose  -the  funds  appropriated  by  the  States  for 
the  use  of  Congress  should  be  inadequate ;  it  will  not 
be  determined  whether  they  be  insufficient  till  after 
the  time  at  which  the  quota  ought  to  have  been  paid ; 
and  then,  after  so  long  a  delay,  the  means  of  procur 
ing  money,  which  ought  to  have  been  employed  in  the 


MARSHALL.  347 

first  instance,  must  be  recurred  to.  May  they  not  be 
amused  by  such  ineffectual  and  temporizing  alterna 
tives  from  year  to  year,  until  America  shall  be  en 
slaved  ? 

The  failure  in  one  State  will  authorize  a  failure  in 
another.  The  calculation  in  some  States  that  others 
will  fail  will  produce  general  failures.  This  will  also 
be  attended  with  all  the  expenses  which  we  are  anxious 
to  avoid.  What  are  the  advantages  to  induce  us  to 
embrace  this  system?  If  they  mean  that  requisitions 
should  be  complied  with  it  will  be  the  same  as  if  Con 
gress  had  the  power  of  direct  taxation.  The  same 
amount  will  be  paid  by  the  people. 

It  is  objected  that  Congress  will  not  know  how  to 
lay  taxes  so  as  to  be  easy  and  convenient  for  the  peo 
ple  at  large.  Let  us  pay  strict  attention  to  this  objec 
tion.  If  it  appears  to  be  totally  without  foundation  the 
necessity  of  levying  direct  taxes  will  obviate  what  the 
gentleman  says ;  nor  will  there  be  any  color  for  refus 
ing  to  grant  the  power. 

The  objects  of  direct  taxes  are  well  understood: 
they  are  but  few ;  what  are  they  ?  Lands,  slaves,  stock 
of  all  kinds,  and  a  few  other  articles  of  domestic  prop 
erty.  Can  you  believe  that  ten  men,  selected  from  all 
parts  of  the  State,  chosen  because  they  know  the  sit 
uation  of  the  people,  will  be  unable  to  determine  so  as 
to  make  the  tax  equal  on,  and  convenient  for,  the  peo 
ple  at  large?  Does  any  man  believe  that  they  would 
lay  the  tax  without  the  aid  of  other  information  be 
sides  their  own  knowledge,  when  they  know  that  the 
very  object  for  which  they  are  elected  is  to  lay  the 
taxes  in  a  judicious  and  convenient  manner?  If  they 


348  MARSHALL. 

wish  to  retain  the  affections  of  the  people  at  large 
will  they  not  inform  themselves  of  every  circumstance 
that  can  throw  light  on  the  subject?  Have  they  but 
one  source  of  information  ?  Besides  their  own  experi 
ence,  their  knowledge  of  what  will  suit  their  constitu 
ents,  they  will  have  the  benefit  of  the  knowledge  and 
experience  of  the  State  legislature.  They  will  see  in. 
what  manner  the  legislature  of  Virginia  collects  its 
taxes.  Will  they  be  unable  to  follow  their  example. 

The  gentlemen  who  shall  be  delegated  to  Congress 
will  have  every  source  of  information  that  the  legis 
latures  of  the  States  can  have,  and  can  lay  the  taxes  as 
equally  on  the  people  and  with  as  little  oppression  as 
they  can. 

If,  then,  it  be  admitted  that  they  can  understand  how 
to  lay  them  equally  and  conveniently,  are  we  to  admit 
that  they  will  not  do  it,  but  that  in  violation  of  every 
principle  that  ought  to  govern  men  they  will  lay  them1 
so  as  to  oppress  us?  What  benefit  will  they  have  by 
it  ?  Will  it  be  promotive  of  their  re-election  ?  Wrill  it 
be  by  wantonly  imposing  hardships  and  difficulties  on 
the  people  at  large  that  they  will  promote  their  own  in 
terest  and  secure  their  re-election?  To  me  it  appears 
incontrovertible  that  they  will  settle  them  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  be  easy  for  the  people.  Is  the  system 
so  organized  as  to  make  taxation  dangerous  ? 

I  shall  not  go  to  the  various  checks  of  the  govern 
ment,  but  examine  whether  the  immediate  repre 
sentation  of  the  people  be  well  constructed.  I  conceive 
its  organization  to  be  sufficiently  satisfactory  to  the 
warmest  friend  of  freedom. 

No  tax  can  be  laid  without  the  consent  of  the  House, 


MARSHALL.  349 

of  Representatives.  If  there  be  no  impropriety  in  the 
mode  of  electing  the  representatives  can  any  clanger 
be  apprehended?  They  are  elected  by  those  who  can 
elect  representatives  in  the  State  legislature..  How 
can  the  votes  of  the  electors  be  influenced?  By  noth 
ing  but  the  character  and  conduct  of  the  man  they  vote 
for.  What  object  can  influence  them  when  about 
choosing  him.  They  have  nothing  to  direct  them  in  the 
choice  but  their  own  good.  Have  you  not  as  pointed 
and  strong  a  security  as  you  can  possibly  have? 

It  is  a  mode  that  seems  an  impossibility  of  being  cor 
rupted.  If  they  are  to  be  chosen  for  their  wisdom,  vir 
tue,  integrity,  what  inducement  have  they  to  infringe 
on  our  freedom?  We  are  told  that  they  may  abuse 
their  power.  Are  there  strong  motives  to  prompt 
them  to  abuse  it  ?  Will  not  such  abuse  militate  against 
their  own  interest?  Will  not  they  and  their  friends 
feel  the  effects  of  iniquitous  measures?  Does  the 
representative  remain  in  office  for  life  ?  Does  he  trans 
mit  his  title  of  representative  to  his  son?  Is  he  secured 
from  the  burden  imposed  on  the  community? 

To  procure  their  re-election  it  will  be  necessary  for 
them  to  confer  with  the  people  at  large  and  convince 
them  that  the  taxes  laid  are  for  their  good.  If  I  am 
able  to  judge  on  the  subject,  the  power  of  taxation  now 
before  us  is  wisely  conceded  and  the  representatives 
are  wisely  elected. 

The  honorable  gentleman  said  that  a  government 
should  ever  depend  on  the  affections  of  the  people.  It 
must  be  so.  It  is  the  best  support  it  can  have.  This 
government  merits  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and  I 
make  no  doubt  will  have  it.  Then  he  informed  us 


350  MARSHALL. 

again  of  the  disposition  of  Spain  with  respect  to  the 
Mississippi,  and  the  conduct  of  the  government  with 
regard  to  it.  To  the  debility  of  the  confederation 
alone  may  justly  be  imputed  every  cause  of  complaint 
on  this  subject. 

Whenever  gentlemen  will  bring  forward  their  ob 
jections  I  trust  we  can  prove  that  no  danger  to  the  navi 
gation  of  that  river  can  arise  from  the  adoption  of  this 
constitution.  I  beg  those  gentlemen  that  may  be  af 
fected  by  it  to  suspend  their  judgment  till  they  hear 
it  discussed.  Will,  says  he,  the  adoption  of  this  con 
stitution  pay  our  debts?  It  will  compel  the  States  to 
pay  their  quotas.  Without  this  Virginia  will  be  unable 
to  pay. 

Unless  all  the  States  pay  she  cannot.  Though  the 
States  will  not  coin  money  (as  we  are  told),  yet  this 
government  will  bring  forth  and  proportion  all  the 
strength  of  the  Union.  That  economy  and  industry 
are  essential  to  our  happiness  will  be  denied  by  no  man. 
But  the  present  government  will  not  add  to  our  indus 
try.  It  takes  away  the  incitements  to  industry  by  ren 
dering  property  insecure  and  unprotected.  It  is  the 
paper  on  your  table  that  will  promote  and  encourage 
industry. 

New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island  have  rejected  it, 
he  tells  us.  New  Hampshire,  if  my  information  be 
right,  will  certainly  adopt  it.  The  report  spread  in  this 
country,  of  which  I  have  heard,  is,  that  the  representa 
tives  of  that  State  having,  on  meeting,  found  they 
were  instructed  to  vote  against  it,  returned  to  their  con 
stituents  without  determining  the  question,  to  convince 


MARSHALL.  35 1 

them  of  their  being  mistaken  and  of  the  propriety  of 
adopting  it. 

The  extent  of  the  country  is  urged  as  another  objec 
tion,  as  being  too  great  for  a  republican  government. 
This  objection  has  been  handed  from  author  to  author 
and  has  been  certainly  misunderstood  and  misapplied. 
To  what  does  it  owe  its  source  ?  To  observations  and 
criticisms  on  governments  where  representations  did 
not  exist.  As  to  the  legislative  power,  was  it  ever  sup 
posed  inadequate  to  any  extent?  Extent  of  country 
may  render  it  difficult  to  execute  the  laws,  but  not  to 
legislate.  Extent  of  country  does  not  extend  the 
power.  What  will  be  sufficiently  energetic  and  oper 
ative  in  a  small  territory  will  be  feeble  when  extended 
over  a  wide-exended  country.  The  gentleman  tells 
us  there  are  no  checks  in  this  plan.  What  has  become 
of  his  enthusiastic  eulogium  on  the  American  spirit? 
We  should  find  a  check  and  control  when  oppressed 
from  that  source.  In  this  country  there  is  no  exclu 
sive  personal  stock  of  interest. 

The  interest  of  the  community  is  blended  and  in 
separably  connected  with  that  of  the  individual.  When 
he  promotes  his  own  he  promotes  that  of  the  com 
munity.  When  we  consult  the  common  good  we  con 
sult  our  own.  When  he  desires  such  checks  as  these 
he  will  find  them  abundantly  here.  They  are  the  best 
checks.  What  has  become  of  his  eulogium  on  the  Vir 
ginia  constitution?  Do  the  checks  in  this  plan  appear 
less  excellent  than  those  of  the  constitution  of  Vir 
ginia?  If  the  checks  in  the  constitution  be  compared 
to  the  checks  in  the  Virginia  constitution  he  will  find 
the  best  security  in  the  former. 


352  MARSHALL. 

The  temple  of  liberty  was  complete,  said  he,  when 
the  people  of  England  said  to  their  king  that  he  was 
their  servant.  What  are  we  to  learn  from  this  ?  Shall 
we  embrace  such  a  system  as  that?  Is  not  liberty  se 
cure  with  us,  where  the  people  hold  all  powers  in  their 
own  hands  and  delegate  them  cautiously,  for  short 
periods,  to  their  servants,  who  are  accountable  for  the 
smallest  maladministration  ?  Where  is  the  nation  that 
can  boast  greater  security  than  we  do  ?  We  want  only 
a  system  like  the  paper  before  you,  to  strengthen  and 
perpetuate  this  security. 

The  honorable  gentleman  has  asked  if  there  be  any 
safety  or  freedom  when  we  give  away  the  sword  and 
the  purse.  Shall  the  people  at  large  hold  the  sword 
and  the  purse  without  the  interposition  of  their  repre 
sentatives?  Can  the  whole  aggregate  community  act 
personally  ?  I  apprehend  that  every  gentleman  will  see 
the  impossibility  of  this.  Must  they,  then,  not  trust 
them  to  others  ?  To  whom  are  they  to  trust  them  but 
to  their  representatives,  who  are  accountable  for  their 
conduct  ? 

He  represents  secrecy  as  unnecessary  and  produces 
the  British  government  as  a  proof  of  its  inutility.  Is 
there  no  secrecy  there?  When  deliberating  on  the 
propriety  of  declaring  war,  or  on  military  arrange 
ments,  do  they  deliberate  in  the  open  fields? 

No,  sir.  The  British  government  affords  secrecy 
when  necessary,  and  so  ought  every  government.  In 
this  plan,  secrecy  is  only  used  when  it  would  be  fatal 
and  pernicious  to  publish  the  schemes  of  government. 
We  are  threatened  with  the  loss  of  our  liberties  by  the 
possible  abuse  of  power,  notwithstanding  the  maxim 


MARSHALL.  353 

that  those  who  give  may  take  away.  It  is  the  people 
that  give  power  and  can  take  it  back.  What  shall  re 
strain  them  ?  They  are  the  masters  who  give  it  and  of 
whom  their  servants  hold  it. 

He  then  argues  against  the  system  because  it  does 
not  resemble  the  British  government  in  this — that  the 
same  power  that  declares  war  has  not  the  means  of 
carrying  it  on.  Are  the  people  of  England  more  secure 
if  the  Commons  have  no  voice  in  declaring  war  ?  or  are 
we  less  secure  by  having  the  Senate  joined  with  the 
President?  It  is  an  absurdity,  says  the  worthy  mem 
ber,  that  the  same  man  should  obey  two  masters,  that 
the  same  collector  should  gather  taxes  for  the  general 
'government  and  the  State  legislature.  Are  they  not 
;both  the  servants  of  the  people?  Are  not  Congress 
and  the  State  legislature  the  agents  of  the  people,  and 
are  they  not  to  consult  the  good  of  the  people?  May 
not  this  be  effected  by  giving  the  same  officer  the  col 
lection  of  both  taxes?  He  tells  you  that  it  is  an  ab 
surdity  to  adopt  before  you  amend.  Is  the  object  of 
your  adoption  to  amend  solely?  The  objects  of  your 
adoption  are  union,  safety  against  foreign  enemies, 
and  protection  against  faction — against  what  has  been 
the  destruction  of  all  republics. 

These  impel  you  to  its  adoption.  If  you  adopt  it, 
what  shall  restrain  you  from  amending  it  if  in  trying 
it  amendments  shall  be  found  necessary  ?  The  govern 
ment  is  not  supported  by  force,  but  depending  on  our 
free  will.  When  experience  shall  show  us  any  incon 
venience  we  can  then  correct  it.  But  until  we  have 
experience  on  the  subject,  amendments  as  well  as  the 
constitution  itself  are  to  try. 


354  MARSHALL. 

Let  us  try  it  and  keep  our  hands  free  to  change  it 
when  necessary.  If  it  be  necessary  to  change  govern 
ment,  let  us  change  that  government  which  has  been 
found  to  be  defective.  The  difficulty  we  find  in  amend 
ing  the  confederation  will  not  be  found  in  amending 
this  constitution. 

Any  amendments  in  the  system  before  you  will  not 
go  to  a  radical  change ;  a  plain  way  is  pointed  out  for 
the  purpose.  All  will  be  interested  to  change  it,  and 
therefore  all  exert  themselves  in  getting  the  change. 
There  is  such  a  diversity  of  sentiment  in  human  minds 
that  it  is  impossible  we  shall  ever  concur  in  one  system 
till  we  try  it.  The  power  given  to  the  general  govern 
ment  over  the  time,  place,  and  manner  of  election  is 
also  strongly  objected  to.  When  we  come  to  that 
clause  we  can  prove  it  is  highly  necessary  and  not 
dangerous. 

The  worthy  member  has  concluded  his  observations 
by  many  eulogiums  on  the  British  constitution.  It  mat 
ters  not  to  us  whether  it  be  a  wise  one  or  not.  I  think 
that,  for  America  at  least,  the  government  on  your 
table  is  very  much  superior  to  it.  I  ask  you  if  your 
House  of  Representatives  would  be  better  than  it  is  if 
a  hundredth  part  of  the  people  were  to  elect  a  major 
ity  of  them.  If  your  senators  were  for  life  would  they 
be  more  agreeable  to  you?  If  your  President  were 
not  accountable  to  you  for  his  conduct, — if  it  were  a 
constitutional  maxim  that  he  could  do  no  wrong, — • 
would  you  be  safer  than  you  are  now  ? 

If  you  can  answer,  Yes,  to  these  questions,  then 
adopt  the  British  constitution.  If  not,  then,  good  as 
that  government  may  be,  this  is  better.  The  worthy 


MARSHALL.  355. 

gentleman  who  was  last  up  said  the  confederacies  of 
ancient  and  modern  times  were  not  similar  to  ours, 
and  that  consequently  reasons  which  applied  against 
them  could  not  be  urged  against  it.  Do  they  not  hold 
out  one  lesson  very  useful  to  us?  However  unlike 
in  other  respects  they  resemble  it  in  its  total  inefficacy. 
They  warn  us  to  shun  their  calamities,  and  place  th 
our  government  those  necessary  powers  the  want  of 
\vhich  destroyed  them.  I  hope  we  shall  avail  our 
selves  of  their  misfortunes  without  experiencing  them. 
There  was  something  peculiar  in  one  observation  he 
made.  He  said  that  those  who  governed  the  cantons 
of  Switzerland  were  purchased  by  foreign  powers, 
which  was  the  cause  of  their  uneasiness  and  trouble. 
How  does  this  apply  to  us?  If  we  adopt  such  a  gov 
ernment  as  theirs  will  it  not  be  subject  to  the  same 
inconvenience?  Will  not  the  same  cause  produce  the 
same  effect?  What  shall  protect  us  from  it?  What 
is  our  security? 

He  then  proceeded  to  say,  the  causes  of  war  are 
removed  from  us;  that  we  are  separated  by  the  sea 
from  the  powers  of  Europe,  and  need  not  be  alarmed. 
vSir,  the  sea  makes  them  neighbors  to  us.  Though  an 
immense  ocean  divides  us,  we  may  speedily  see  them 
with  us.  What  dangers  may  we  not  apprehend  to  our 
commerce!  Does  not  our  naval  weakness  invite  an 
attack  on  our  commerce?  May  not  the  Algerines 
seize  our  vessels  ?  Cannot  they  and  every  other  preda 
tory  or  maritime  nation  pillage  our  ships  and  destroy 
our  commerce  without  subjecting  themselves  to  any  in 
convenience? 

He  would,  he  said,  give  the  general  government 

12—1 


356  MARSHALL. 

all  necessary  powers.  If  anything  be  necessary  it 
must  be  so  to  call  forth  the  strength  of  the  Union  when 
we  may  be  attacked  or  when  the  general  purposes  of 
America  require  it.  The  worthy  gentleman  then  pro 
ceeded  to  show  that  our  present  exigencies  are  greater 
than  they  wiH  ever  be  again. 

Who  can  penetrate  into  futurity?  How  can  any 
man  pretend  to  say  that  our  future  exigencies  will  be 
less  than  our  present?  The  exigencies  of  nations  have 
been  generally  commensurate  to  their  resources.  It 
would  be  the  utmost  impolicy  to  trust  to  a  mere  possi 
bility  of  not  being  attacked  or  obliged  to  exert  the 
strength  of  the  community.  He  then  spoke  of  a  selec 
tion  of  particular  objects  by  Congress,  which  he  says 
must  necessarily  be  oppressive;  that  Congress,  for  in 
stance,  might  select  taxes,  and  that  all  but  landholders 
would  escape.  Cannot  Congress  regulate  the  taxes 
so  as  to  be  equal  on  all  parts  of  the  community? 
Where  is  the  absurdity  of  having  thirteen  revenues? 
Will  they  clash  with  or  injure  each  other?  If  not, 
why  cannot  Congress  make  thirteen  distinct  laws  and 
impose  the  taxes  on  the  general  objects  of  taxation 
in  each  State  so  as  that  all  persons  of  the  society  shall 
pay  equally,  as  they  ought? 

He  then  told  you  that  your  continental  government 
will  call  forth  the  virtue  and  talents  of  America.  This 
being  the  case  will  they  encroach  on  the  power  of  the 
State  governments  ?  Will  our  most  virtuous  and  able 
citizens  wantonly  attempt  to  destroy  the  liberty  of 
the  people?  Will  the  most  virtuous  act  the  most  wick 
edly  ?  I  differ  in  opinion  from  the  worthy  gentleman. 
I  think  the  virtue  and  talents- of  the  members  of  the 


MARSHALL.  357 

general  government  will  tend  to  the  security  instead 
of  the  destruction  of  our  liberty.  I  think  that  the 
power  of  direct  taxation  is  essential  to  the  existence 
of  the  general  government  and  that  it  is  safe  to  grant 
it.  If  this  power  be  not  necessary,  and  as  safe  from 
abuse  as  any  delegated  power  can  possibly  be,  then  I 
say  that  the  plan  before  you  is  unnecessary;  for  it 
imports  not  what  system  we  have,  unless  it  have  the 
power  of  protecting  us  in  time  of  peace  and  war. 


LEE. 

Lee,  Henry,  a  noted  American  patriot  and  orator,  born 
at  Leesylvania,  Va.,  January  29,  1756  ;  died  at  Cumberland 
Island,  Ga.,  November  25,  1818.  During  the  American  Rev 
olution  he  commanded  a  troop  of  soldiers  known  as  "  Lee's 
Legion,"  while  he  himself  was  commonly  styled  "  Light- 
Horse  Harry."  He  entered  Congress  in  1787,  and  was 
governor  of  Virginia  1792-95.  While  in  Congress  a  second 
time  the  death  of  Washington  occurred  in  1799  and  he  was 
appointed  by  Congress  to  deliver  an  oration  before  that  body 
upon  the  character  of  the  great  statesman.  This  eulogy,  deliv 
ered  on  December  26,  1799,  is  still  one  of  the  most  popular 
of  American  speeches,  and  has  been  declaimed  by  thousands 
of  schoolboys.  His  life  has  been  written  by  his  son,  Gen 
eral  Robert  E.  Lee,  the  famous  leader  of  the  Southern 
confederacy. 


EULOGY   ON   WASHINGTON. 

[This  oration  was  prepared  and  delivered  at  the  request  of  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  by  General  Lee,  at  Philadelphia,  on 
the  26th  of  December,  1799.] 

IN  obedience  to  your  will  I  rise,  your  humble  organ, 
with  the  hope  of  executing  a  part  of  the  system  of 
public  mourning  which  you  have  been  pleased  to  adopt, 
commemorative  of  the  death  of  the  most  illustrious 
and  most  beloved  personage  this  country  has  ever 
produced;  and  which,  while  it  transmits  to  posterity 
your  sense  of  the  awful  event,  faintly  represents  your 
knowledge  of  the  consummate  excellence  you  so  cor 
dially  honor. 

Desperate  indeed  is  any  attempt  on  earth  to  meet 
correspondently  this  dispensation  of  heaven;  for, 
while  with  pious  resignation  we  submit  to  the  will  of 


LEE.  359 

an  all-gracious  Providence,  we  can  never  cease  lament 
ing,  in  our  finite  view  of  Omnipotent  wisdom,  the 
heart-rending  privation  for  which  our  nation  weeps. 
When  the  civilized  world  shakes  to  its  centre;  when 
every  moment  gives  birth  to  strange  and  momentous 
changes;  when  our  peaceful  quarter  of  the  globe,  ex 
empt  as  it  happily  has  been  from  any  share  in  the 
slaughter  of  the  human  race,  may  yet  be  compelled  to 
abandon  her  pacific  policy  and  to  risk  the  doleful 
casualties  of  war;  what  limit  is  there  to  the  extent  of 
our  loss?  None  within  the  reach  of  my  words  to  ex 
press  ;  none  which  your  feelings  will  not  disavow. 

The  founder  of  our  federate  republic,  our  bulwark 
in  war,  our  guide  in  peace,  is  no  more !  O  that  this 
were  but  questionable!  Hope,  the  comforter  of  the 
wretched,  would  pour  into  our  agonizing  hearts  its 
balmy  dew.  But,  alas!  there  is  no  hope  for  us;  our 
Washington  is  removed  forever!  Possessing  the 
stoutest  frame  and  purest  mind,  he  had  passed  nearly 
to  his  sixty-eighth  year  in  the  enjoyment  of  high 
health,  when,  habituated  by  his  care  of  us  to  neglect 
himself,  a  slight  cold,  disregarded,  became  inconveni 
ent  on  Friday,  oppressive  on  Saturday,  and,  defying 
every  medical  interposition,  before  the  morning  of 
Sunday,  put  an  end  to  the  best  of  men. 

An  end  did  I  say  ? — his  fame  survives !  bounded  only 
by  the  limits  of  the  earth  and  by  the  extent  of  the 
human  mind.  He  survives  in  our  hearts,  in  the  grow 
ing  knowledge  of  our  children,  in  the  affection  of  the 
good  throughout  the  world :  and  when  our  monuments 
shall  be  done  away;  \vhen  nations  now  existing  shall 
be  no  more;  when  even  our  young  and  far-spreading 


360  LEE. 

empire  shall  have  perished,  still  will  our  Washing 
ton's  glory  unfaded  shine  and  die  not,  until  love  of 
virtue  cease  on  earth,  or  earth  itself  sinks  into  chaos. 

How,  my  fellow  citizens,  shall  I  signal  to  your 
grateful  hearts  his  pre-eminent  worth?  Where  shall 
I  begin  in  opening  to  your  view  a  character  through 
out  sublime?  Shall  I  speak  of  his  warlike  achieve 
ments,  all  springing  from  obedience  to  his  country's 
will,  all  directed  to  his  country's  good? 

Will  you  go  with  me  to  the  banks  of  the  Monon- 
gahela,  to  see  your  youthful  Washington  supporting 
in  the  dismal  hour  of  Indian  victory,  the  ill-fated  Brad- 
dock,  and  saving,  by  his  judgment  and  by  his  valor, 
the  remains  of  a  defeated  army,  pressed  by  the  con 
quering  savage  foe;  or,  when  oppressed  America, 
nobly  resolving  to  risk  her  all  in  defence  of  her  vio 
lated  rights,  he  was  elevated  by  the  unanimous  voice 
of  Congress  to  the  command  of  her  armies? 

Will  you  follow  him  to  the  high  grounds  of  Boston, 
where  to  an  undisciplined,  courageous,  and  virtuous 
yeomanry  his  presence  gave  the  stability  of  system 
and  infused  the  invincibility  of  love  of  country;  or 
shall  I  carry  you  to  the  painful  scenes  of  Long  Island, 
York  Island,  and  New  Jersey,  when,  combating  su 
perior  and  gallant  armies,  aided  by  powerful  fleets, 
and  led  by  chiefs  high  in  the  roll  of  fame,  he  stood, 
the  bulwark  of  our  safety,  undismayed  by  disaster,  un 
changed  by  change  of  fortune? 

Or  will  you  view  him  in  the  precarious  fields  of 
Trenton,  where  deep  gloom,  unnerving  every  arm, 
reigned  triumphant  through  our  thinned,  worn-down, 
unaided  ranks;  himself  unmoved?  Dreadful  was  the 


LEE. 

night.  It  was  about  this  time  of  winter;  the  storm 
raged;  the  Delaware,  rolling  furiously  with  floating 
ice,  forbade  the  approach  of  man.  Washington,  self- 
collected,  viewed  the  tremendous  scene;  his  country 
called;  unappalled  by  surrounding  dangers  he  passed 
to  the  hostile  shore;  he  fought;  he  conquered.  The 
morning  sun  cheered  the  American'  world.  Our  coun 
try  rose  on  the  event;  and  her  dauntless  chief,  pursu 
ing  his  blow,  completed  in  the  lawns  of  Princeton  what 
hh  vast  soul  had  conceived  on  the  shores  of  the 
Delaware. 

Thence  to  the  strong  grounds  of  Morristown  he  led 
his  small  but  gallant  band;  and  through  an  eventful 
winter,  by  the  high  efforts  of  his  genius,  whose  match 
less  force  was  measurable  only  by  the  growth  of  diffi 
culties,  he  held  in  check  formidable  hostile  legions, 
conducted  by  a  chief  experienced  in  the  art  of  war 
and  famed  for  his  valor  on  the  ever-memorable  heights 
of  Abraham,  where  fell  Wolf  e,Montcalm,  and  since,  our 
much-lamented  Montgomery,  all  covered  with  glory. 
In  this  fortunate  interval,  produced  by  his  masterly 
conduct,  our  fathers,  ourselves,  animated  by  his  resist 
less  example,  rallied  around  our  country's  standard 
and  continued  to  follow  her  beloved  chief  through  the 

o 

various  and  trying  scenes  to  which  the  destinies  of 
our  Union  led. 

Who  is  there  that  has  forgotten  the  vales  of  Brandy- 
wine,  the  fields  of  Germantown,  or  the  plains  of  Mon- 
mouth?  Everywhere  present,  wants  of  every  kind 
obstructing,  numerous  and  valiant  armies  encounter 
ing,  himself  a  host,  he  assuaged  our  sufferings,  limited 
our  privations,  and  upheld  our  tottering  republic. 


362  LEE. 

Shall  I  display  to  you  the  spread  of  the  fire  of  his 
soul  by  rehearsing  the  praises  of  the  hero  of  Saratoga 
and  his  much  loved  compeer  of  the  Carolinas?  No; 
our  Washington  wears  not  borrowed  glory.  To  Gates, 
to  Greene,  he  gave  without  reserve  the  applause  due 
to  their  eminent  merit;  and  long  may  the  chiefs  of 
Saratoga  and  of  Eutaw  receive  the  grateful  respect 
of  a  grateful  people. 

Moving  in  his  own  orbit  he  imparted  heat  and 
light  to  his  most  distant  satellites;  and,  combining 
the  physical  and  moral  force  of  all  within  his  sphere, 
with  irresistible  weight  he  took  his  course,  commiser 
ating  folly,  disdaining  vice,  dismaying  treason,  and 
invigorating  despondency;  until  the  auspicious  hour 
arrived  when,  united  with  the  intrepid  forces  of  a 
potent  and  magnanimous  ally,  he  brought  to  submis 
sion  the  since  conqueror  of  India;  thus  finishing  his 
long  career  of  military  glory  with  a  lustre  correspond 
ing  to  his  great  name,  and  in  this,  his  last  act  of  war, 
affixing  the  seal  of  fate  to  our  nation's  birth. 

To  the  horrid  din  of  battle  sweet  peace  succeeded; 
and  our  virtuous  chief,  mindful  only  of  the  common 
good,  in  a  moment  of  tempting  personal  aggrandize 
ment  hushed  the  discontents  of  growing  sedition,  and, 
surrendering  his  power  into  the  hands  from  which  he 
had  received  it,  converted  his  sword  into  a  plowshare, 
teaching  an  admiring  world  that  to  be  truly  great  you 
must  be  truly  good. 

Were  I  to  stop  here  the  picture  would  be  incomplete 
and  the  task  imposed  unfinished.  Great  as  was  our 
Washington  in  war,  and  as  much  as  did  that  greatness 
contribute  to  produce  the  American  republic,  it  is  not 


LEE.  363 

in  war  alone  his  pre-eminence  stands  conspicuous. 
His  various  talents,  combining  all  the  capacities  of  a 
statesman  with  those  of  a  soldier,  fitted  him  alike  to 
guide  the  councils  and  the  armies  of  our  nation. 
Scarcely  had  he  rested  from  his  martial  toils,  while  his 
invaluable  parental  advice  was  still  sounding  in  our 
ears,  when  he  who  had  been  our  shield  and  our  sword 
was  called  forth  to  act  a  less  splendid  but  more  im 
portant  part. 

Possessing  a  clear  and  penetrating  mind,  a  strong 
and  sound  judgment,  calmness  and  temper  for  deliber 
ation,  with  invincible  firmness  and  perseverance  in 
resolutions  maturely  formed;  drawing  information 
from  all ;  acting  from  himself  with  incorruptible  integ 
rity  and  unvarying  patriotism ;  his  own  superiority  and 
the  public  confidence  alike  marked  him  as  the  man 
designed  by  heaven  to  lead  in  the  great  political  as 
well  as  military  events  which  have  distinguished  the 
era  of  his  life. 

The  finger  of  an  overruling  Providence  pointing  at 
Washington  was  neither  mistaken  nor  unobserved; 
when,  to  realize  the  vast  hopes  to  which  our  Revolu 
tion  had  given  birth,  a  change  of  political  system  be 
came  indispensable. 

How  novel,  how  grand  the  spectacle !  Independent 
States,  stretched  over  an  immense  territory,  and 
known  only  by  common  difficulty,  clinging  to  their 
union  as  the  rock  of  their  safety,  deciding  by  frank 
comparison  of  their  relative  condition  to  rear  on  that 
rock,  under  the  guidance  of  reason,  a  common  govern 
ment  through  whose  commanding  protection,  liberty 
and  order,  with  their  long  train  of  blessings,  should  be 


safe  to  themselves  and  the  sure  inheritance  of  their 
posterity. 

This  arduous  task  devolved  on  citizens  selected  by 
the  people  from  knowledge  of  their  wisdom  and  con 
fidence  in  their  virtue.  In  this  august  assembly  of 
sages  and  of  patriots  Washington,  of  course,  was 
found;  and,  as  if  acknowledged  to  be  the  most  wise 
where  all  were  wise,  with  one  voice  he  was  declared 
their  chief.  How  well  he  merited  this  rare  distinction, 
how  faithful  were  the  labors  of  himself  and  his  com 
patriots,  the  work  of  their  hands,  and  our  union, 
strength,  and  prosperity,  the  fruits  of  that  work,  best 
attest. 

But  to  have  essentially  aided  in  presenting  to  his 
country  this  consummation  of  her  hopes  neither  satis 
fied  the  claims  of  his  fellow  citizens  on  his  talents,  nor 
those  duties  which  the  possession  of  those  talents  im 
posed.  Heaven  had  not  infused  into  his  mind  such 
an  uncommon  share  of  its  ethereal  spirit  to  remain  un 
employed;  nor  bestowed  on  him  his  genius  unaccom 
panied  with  the  corresponding  duty  of  devoting  it  to 
the  common  good.  To  have  framed  a  constitution 
was  showing  only,  without  realizing,  the  general 
happiness. 

This  great  work  remained  to  be  done ;  and  America, 
steadfast  in  her  preference,  with  one  voice  summoned 
her  beloved  Washington,  unpractised  as  he  was  in  the 
duties  of  civil  administration,  to  execute  this  last  act 
in  the  completion  of  the  national  felicity.  Obedient 
to  her  call,  he  assumed  the  high  office  with  that  self- 
distrust  peculiar  to  his  innate  modesty,  the  constant  at 
tendant  of  pre-eminent  virtue.  What  was  the  burst 


LEE.  365 

of  joy  through  our  anxious  land  on  this  exhilarating- 
event  is  known  to  us  all.  The  aged,  the  young,  the 
brave,  the  fair,  rivalled  each  other  in  demonstrations 
of  their  gratitude;  and  this  high-wrought,  delightful 
scene  was  heightened  in  its  effect  by  the  singular  con 
test  between  the  zeal  of  the  bestowers  and  the  avoid 
ance  of  the  receiver  of  the  honors  bestowed. 

Commencing  his  administration,  what  heart  is  not 
charmed  with  the  recollection  of  the  pure  and  wise 
principles  announced  by  himself  as  the  basis  of  his 
political  life!  He  best  understood  the  indissoluble 
union  between  virtue  and  happiness,  between  duty  and 
advantage,  between  the  genuine  maxims  of  an  honest 
and  magnanimous  policy  and  the  solid  rewards  of 
public  prosperity  and  individual  felicity;  watching 
with  an  equal  and  comprehensive  eye  over  this  great 
assemblage  of  communities  and  interests,  he  laid  the 
foundations  of  our  national  policy  in  the  unerring,  im 
mutable  principles  of  morality  based  on  religion,  ex 
emplifying  the  pre-eminence  of  a  free  government  by 
all  the  attributes  which  win  the  affections  of  its  citi 
zens  or  command  the  respect  of  the  world. 

"  O  fortunatos  nimium,  sua  si  bona  norint !  "* 

Leading  through  the  complicated  difficulties  pro 
duced  by  previous  obligations  and  conflicting  interests, 
seconded  by  succeeding  Houses  of  Congress,  enlight 
ened  and  patriotic,  he  surmounted  all  original  obstruc 
tion  and  brightened  the  path  of  our  nation?!  felicity. 

The   presidential   term   expiring,   his   solicitude   to 

1  "O  too  fortunate  if  they  recognize  the  good  things  tney  have.'* 


366  LEE. 

exchange  exaltation  for  humility  returned  with  a  force 
increased  with  increase  of  age;  and  he  had  prepared 
his  farewell  address  to  his  countrymen,  proclaiming 
his  intention,  when  the  united  interposition  of  all 
around  him,  enforced  by  the  eventful  prospects  of  the 
epoch,  produced  a  further  sacrifice  of  inclination  to 
duty.  The  election  of  President  followed,  and  Wash 
ington,  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  nation,  was  called 
to  resume  the  chief  magistracy.  What  a  wonderful 
fixture  of  confidence !  Which  attracts  most  our  admir 
ation,  a  people  so  correct,  or  a  citizen  combining  an 
assemblage  of  talents  forbidding  rivalry  and  stifling 
even  envy  itself?  Such  a  nation  ought  to  be  happy, 
such  a  chief  must  be  forever  revered. 

War,  long  menaced  by  the  Indian  tribes,  now  broke 
out;  and  the  terrible  conflict,  deluging  Europe  with 
blood,  began  to  shed  its  baneful  influence  over  our 
happy  land.  To  the  first  outstretching  his  invincible 
arm,  under  the  order  of  the  gallant  Wayne,  the  Ameri 
can  eagle  soared  triumphant  through  distant  forests. 
Peace  followed  victory;  and  the  melioration  of  the 
condition  of  the  enemy  followed  peace.  Godlike  vir 
tue,  which  uplifts  even  the  subdued  savage ! 

To  the  second  he  opposed  himself.  New  and  deli 
cate  was  the  conjuncture  and  great  was  the  stake. 
Soon  did  his  penetrating  mind  discern  and  seize  the 
only  course,  continuing  to  use  all  the  felicity  enjoyed. 
He  issued  his  proclamation  of  neutrality.  This  index 
to  his  whole  subsequent  conduct  was  sanctioned  by  the 
.approbation  of  both  Houses  of  Congress  and  by  the 
approving  voice  of  the  people. 

To  this  sublime  policy  he  inviolably  adhered,  un- 


LEE.  367 

moved  by  foreign  intrusion,  unshaken  by  domestic 
turbulence. 

"  Justum  et  tenacem  propositi  virum, 
Non  civium  ardor  prava  jubentium, 
Non  vultus  instantis  tyranni, 
Mente  quatit  solida."  *• 

Maintaining  his  pacific  system  at  the  expense  of  no 
duty,  America,  faithful  to  herself  and  unstained  in 
her  honor,  continued  to  enjoy  the  delights  of  peace, 
while  afflicted  Europe  mourns  in  every  quarter  under 
the  accumulated  miseries  of  an  unexampled  war ;  mis- 
eries  in  which  our  happy  country  must  have  shared 
had  not  our  pre-eminent  Washington  been  as  firm  in 
council  as  he  was  brave  in  the  field. 

Pursuing  steadfastly  his  course,  he  held  safe  the 
public  happiness,  preventing  foreign  war  and  quelling 
internal  discord,  till  the  revolving  period  of  a  third 
election  approached,  when  he  executed  his  interrupted 
but  inextinguishable  desire  of  returning  to  the  humble 
walks  of  private  life. 

The  promulgation  of  his  fixed  resolution  stopped 
the  anxious  wishes  of  an  affectionate  people  from 
adding  a  third  unanimous  testimonial  of  their  un 
abated  confidence  in  the  man  so  long  enthroned  in 
their  hearts.  When  before  was  affection  like  this  ex 
hibited  on  earth?  Turn  over  the  records  of  ancient 
Greece;  review  the  annals  of  mighty  Rome;  examine 
the  volumes  of  modern  Europe;  you  search  in  vain. 

1  The  just  man,  tenacious  of  his  purpose,  is  not  shaken  in  his 
well-formed  convictions  by  the  ill-timed  zeal  of  aggressive  citizens 
or  by  the  angry  face  of  the  tyrant. 


368  LEE. 

America  and  her  Washington  only  afford  the  dignified 
exemplification. 

The  illustrious  personage  called  by  the  national 
voice  in  succession  to  the  arduous  office  of  guiding  a 
free  people  had  new  difficulties  to  encounter.  The 
amicable  effort  of  settling  our  difficulties  with  France, 
begun  by  Washington  and  pursued  by  his  successor 
in  virtue  as  in  station,  proving  abortive,  America  took 
measures  of  self-defence.  No  sooner  was  the  public 
mind  roused  by  the  prospect  of  danger  than  every  eye 
was  turned  to  the  friend  of  all,  though  secluded  from 
public  view  and  gray  in  public  service.  The  virtuous 
veteran,  following  his  plough,  received  the  unexpected 
summons  with  mingled  emotions  of  indignation  at  the 
unmerited  ill-treatment  of  his  country  and  of  a  de 
termination  once  more  to  risk  his  all  in  her  defence. 

The  annunciation  of  these  feelings  in  his  affecting 
letter  to  the  President,  accepting  the  command  of  the 
army,  concludes  his  official  conduct. 

First  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts 
of  his  countrymen,  he  was  second  to  none  in  the  hum 
ble  and  endearing  scenes  of  private  life.  Pious,  just, 
humane,  temperate,  and  sincere;  uniform,  dignified, 
and  commanding,  his  example  was  as  edifying  to  all 
around  him  as  were  the  effects  of  that  example  lasting-. 

To  his  equals  he  was  condescending ;  to  his  inferiors 
kind;  and  to  the  dear  object  of  his  affections  exem- 
plarily  tender.  Correct  throughout,  vice  shuddered  in 
liis  presence  and  virtue  always  felt  his  fostering  hand : 
the  purity  of  his  private  character  gave  effulgence  to 
"his  public  virtues. 

His  last  scene  comported  with  the  whole  tenor  of 


LEE.  369 

his  life :  although  in  extreme  pain,  not  a  sigh,  not  a 
groan  escaped  him;  and  with  undisturbed  serenity  he 
closed  his  well-spent  life.  Such  was  the  man  Amer 
ica  has  lost !  Such  was  the  man  for  whom  our  nation 
mourns ! 

Methinks  I  see  his  august  image  and  hear,  falling; 
from  his  venerable  lips,  these  deep  sinking  words : 

"  Cease,  sons  of  America,  lamenting  our  separation : 
go  on,  and  confirm  by  your  wisdom  the  fruits  of  our 
joint  counsels,  joint  efforts,  and  common  dangers. 
Reverence  religion;  diffuse  knowledge  throughout 
your  land;  patronize  the  arts  and  sciences;  let  liberty 
and  order  be  inseparable  companions;  control  party 
spirit,  the  bane  of  free  government;  observe  good: 
faith  to,  and  cultivate  peace  with,  all  nations;  shut  up- 
every  avenue  to  foreign  influence ;  contract  rather  than 
extend  national  connection;  rely  on  yourselves  only;; 
be  American  in  thought  and  deed.  Thus  will  you  give 
immortality  to  that  Union  which  was  the  constant 
object  of  my  terrestrial  labors.  Thus  will  you  pre 
serve,  undisturbed  to  the  latest  posterity,  the  felicity 
of  a  people  to  me  most  dear :  and  thus  will  you  supply 
(if  my  happiness  is  now  aught  to  you)  the  only  vacancy 
in  the  round  of  pure  bliss  high  heaven  bestows." 


37O  HAMILTON. 

Hamilton,.  Alexander,  a  renowned  American  statesman 
and  financier,  born  in  the  Island  of  St.  Nevis,  in  the  West 
Indies,  January  n,  1757;  died  at  Weehawken,  N.  J.,  July 
12,  1804.  As  a  youth  he  was  sent  to  New  York  City  to  be 
educated  and  entered  what  is  now  Columbia  University,  just 
prior  to  the  American  Revolution.  Fired  by  the  stirring 
events  of  the  period  he  began  to  address  public  gatherings, 
where  his  eloquence  and  earnestness  attracted  great  atten 
tion.  Leaving  college  he  joined  the  army,  receiving  a 
commission  from  Washington,  and  commanding  a  battalion 
at  the  siege  of  Yorktown.  With  Madison  and  Jay  he  wrote 
the  series  of  political  essays  known  as  The  Federalist  in 
order  to  bring  about  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution. 
Hamilton  was  the  first  secretary  of  the  treasury,  holding 
office  from  1789  to  1795.  He  was  killed  in  a  duel  with 
Aaron  Burr. 


ON  THE  EXPEDIENCY  OF  ADOPTING  THE 
FEDERAL   CONSTITUTION. 

CONSTITUTION  OF  NEW  YORK,  JUNE  24,   1788. 

I  AM  persuaded,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  I  in  my  turn 
shall  be  indulged,  in  addressing  the  committee.  We 
all,  in  equal  sincerity,  profess  to  be  anxious  for  the 
establishment  of  a  republican  government,  on  a  safe 
and  solid  basis.  It  is  the  object  of  the  wishes  of  every 
honest  man  in  the  United  States,  and  I  presume  that 
I  shall  not  be  disbelieved,  when  I  declare,  that  it  is 
an  object  of  all  others  the  nearest  and  most  dear  to 
my  own  heart.  The  means  of  accomplishing  this  great 
purpose  become  the  most  important  study  which  can 
interest  mankind.  It  is  our  duty  to  examine  all  those 


HAMILTON.  3/1 

means  with  peculiar  attention,  and  to  choose  the  best 
and  most  effectual.  It  is  our  duty  to  draw  from  nature, 
from  reason,  from  examples,  the  best  principles  of 
policy,  and  to  pursue  and  apply  them  in  the  formation 
of  our  government.  We  should  contemplate  and  com 
pare  the  systems,  which,  in  this  examination,  come 
under  our  view;  distinguish,  with  a  careful  eye,  the 
defects  and  excellencies  of  each,  and,  discarding  the 
former,  incorporate  the  latter,  as  far  as  circumstances 
will  admit,  into  our  Constitution.  If  we  pursue  a  dif 
ferent  course  and  neglect  this  duty,  we  shall  probably 
disappoint  the  expectations  of  our  country  and  of  the 
world. 

In  the  commencement  of  a  revolution,  which  re 
ceived  its  birth  from  the  usurpations  of  tyranny,  noth 
ing  was  more  natural  than  that  the  public  mind  should 
be  influenced  by  an  extreme  spirit  of  jealousy.  To 
resist  these  enroachments,  and  to  nourish  this  spirit, 
was  the  great  object  of  all  our  public  and  private  insti 
tutions.  The  zeal  for  liberty  became  predominant  and 
excessive.  In  forming  our  Confederation,  this  pas 
sion  alone  seemed  to  actuate  us,  and  we  appear  to 
have  had  no  other  view  than  to  secure  ourselves  from 
despotism.  The  object  certainly  was  a  valuable  one, 
and  deserved  our  utmost  attention.  But,  sir,  there  is 
another  object  equally  important,  and  which  our  enthu 
siasm  rendered  us  little  capable  of  regarding :  I  mean 
a  principle  of  strength  and  stability  in  the  organization 
of  our  government,  and  vigor  in  its  operations.  This 
purpose  can  never  be  accomplished  but  by  the  estab 
lishment  of  some  select  body,  formed  peculiarly  upon 
this  principle.  There  are  few  positions  more  demon- 


3/2  HAMILTON. 

strable  than  that  there  should  be  in  every  republic 
some  permanent  body  to  correct  the  prejudices,  check 
the  intemperate  passions,  and  regulate  the  fluctuations 
of  a  popular  assembly.  It  is  evident  that  a  body  in 
stituted  for  these  purposes  must  be  so  formed  as  to 
exclude  as  much  as  possible  from  its  own  character 
those  infirmities  and  that  mutability  which  it  is  de 
signed  to  remedy.  It  is  therefore  necessary  that  it 
should  be  small,  that  it  should  hold  its  authority  dur 
ing  a  considerable  period,  and  that  it  should  have  such 
an  independence  in  the  exercise  of  its  powers  as  will 
divest  it  as  much  as  possible  of  local  prejudices.  It 
should  be  so  formed  as  to  be  the  centre  of  political 
knowledge,  to  pursue  alwrays  a  steady  line  of  conduct, 
and  to  reduce  every  irregular  propensity  to  system. 
Without  this  establishment,  we  may  make  experiments 
without  end,  but  shall  never  have  an  efficient  govern 
ment. 

It  is  an  unquestionable  truth,  that  the  body  of  the 
people  in  every  country  desire  sincerely  its  prosperity ; 
but  it  is  equally  unquestionable,  that  they  do  not 
possess  the  discernment  and  stability  necessary  for 
systematic  government.  To  deny  that  they  are  fre 
quently  led  into  the  grossest  errors  by  misinformation 
and  passion,  would  be  a  flattery  which  their  own  good 
sense  must  despise.  That  branch  of  administration  es 
pecially,  which  involves  our  political  relations  witri 
foreign  States,  a  community  will  ever  be  incompetent 
to.  These  truths  are  not  often  held  up  in  public  assem 
blies,  but  they  cannot  be  unknown  to  any  who  hear 
me.  From  these  principles  it  follows,  that  there  ought 
to  be  two  distinct  bodies  in  our  government:  one, 


HAMILTON.  375 

\vhich  shall  be  immediately  constituted  by  and  pecul 
iarly  represent  the  people,  and  possess  all  the  popular 
features;  another,  formed  upon  the  principle  and  for 
the  purposes  before  explained.  Such  considerations 
as  these  induced  the  Convention  who  formed  your 
State  Constitution,  to  institute  a  Senate  upon  the  pres 
ent  plan.  The  history  of  ancient  and  modern  republics 
had  taught  them,  that  many  of  the  evils  which  these 
republics  had  suffered,  arose  from  the  want  of  a  cer 
tain  balance  and  mutual  control  indispensable  to  a 
wise  administration ;  they  were  convinced  that  popular 
assemblies  are  frequently  misguided  by  ignorance,  by 
sudden  impulses,  and  the  intrigues  of  ambitious  men; 
and  that  some  firm  barrier  against  these  operations 
was  necessary ;  they,  therefore,  instituted  your  Senate, 
and  the  benefits  we  have  experienced  have  fully  justi 
fied  their  conceptions.  .  .  . 

Gentlemen,  in  their  reasoning,  have  placed  the  in 
terests  of  the  several  States  and  those  of  the  United 
States  in  contrast;  this  is  not  a  fair  view  of  the  subject; 
they  must  necessarily  be  involved  in  each  other.  What 
iwe  apprehend  is,  that  some  sinister  prejudice,  or  some 
prevailing  passion,  may  assume  the  form  of  a  genuine 
interest.  The  influence  of  these  is  as  powerful  as  the 
most  permanent  conviction  of  the  public  good;  and 
against  this  influence  we  ought  to  provide.  The  local 
interests  of  a  State  ought  in  every  case  to  give  way 
to  the  interests  of  the  Union;  for  when  a  sacrifice  of 
one  or  the  other  is  necessary,  the  former  becomes  only 
tin  apparent,  partial  interest,  and  should  yield,  on  the 
principle  that  the  small  good  ought  never  to  oppose 
the  great  one.  When  you  assemble  from  your  several 


374  HAMILTON. 

counties  in  the  Legislature,  were  every  member  to  be 
guided  only  by  the  apparent  interests  of  his  country, 
government  would  be  impracticable.  There  must  be  a 
perpetual  accommodation  and  sacrifice  of  local  advan 
tages  to  general  expediency;  but  the  spirit  of  a  mere 
popular  assembly  would  rarely  be  actuated  by  this 
important  principle.  It  is  therefore  absolutely  neces 
sary  that  the  Senate  should  be  so  formed,  as  to  be 
unbiased  by  false  conceptions  of  the  real  interests,  or 
undue  attachment  to  the  apparent  good  of  their  sev 
eral  States. 

Gentlemen  indulge  too  many  unreasonable  appre 
hensions  of  danger  to  the  State  governments;  they 
seem  to  suppose  that  the  moment  you  put  men  into  a 
national  council,  they  become  corrupt  and  tyrannical, 
and  lose  all  their  affection  for  their  fellow-citizens. 
But  can  we  imagine  that  the  Senators  will  ever  be  so 
insensible  of  their  own  advantage,  as  to  sacrifice  the 
genuine  interest  of  their  constituents  ?  The  State  gov 
ernments  are  essentially  necessary  to  the  form  and 
spirit  of  the  general  system.  As  long,  therefore,  as 
Congress  has  a  full  conviction  of  this  necessity,  they 
must,  even  upon  principles  purely  national,  have  as 
firm  an  attachment  to  the  one  as  to  the  other.  This 
conviction  can  never  leave  them,  unless  they  become 
madmen.  While  the  Constitution  continues  to  be  read, 
and  its  principle  known,  the  States  must,  by  every 
rational  man,  be  considered  as  essential,  component 
parts  of  the  Union;  and  therefore  the  idea  of  sacrific 
ing  the  former  to  the  latter  is  wholly  inadmissible. 

The  objectors  do  not  advert  to  the  natural  strength 
and  resources  of  State  governments,  which  will  ever 


HAMILTON.  375 

give  them  an  important  superiority  over  the  general 
government.  If  we  compare  the  nature  of  their  dif 
ferent  powers,  or  the  means  of  popular  influence  which 
each  possesses,  we  shall  find  the  advantage  entirely 
on  the  side  of  the  States.  This  consideration,  im 
portant  as  it  is,  seems  to  have  been  little  attended  to. 
The  aggregate  number  of  Representatives  throughout 
the  States  may  be  two  thousand.  Their  personal  in 
fluence  will,  therefore,  be  proportionably  more  exten 
sive  than  that  of  one  or  two  hundred  men  in  Congress. 
The  State  establishments  of  civil  and  military  officers 
of  every  description,  infinitely  surpassing  in  number 
any  possible  correspondent  establishments  in  the  gen 
eral  government,  will  create  such  an  extent  and  com 
plication  of  attachments,  as  will  ever  secure"  the 
predilection  and  support  of  the  people.  Whenever, 
therefore,  Congress  shall  meditate  any  infringement 
of  the  State  Constitution,  the  great  body  of  the  people 
will  naturally  take  part  with  their  domestic  representa 
tives.  Can  the  general  government  withstand  such  a 
united  opposition?  Will  the  people  suffer  themselves 
to  be  stripped  of  their  privileges?  Will  they  suffer 
their  Legislatures  to  be  reduced  to  a  shadow  and  a 
name?  The  idea  is  shocking  to  common-sense. 

From  the  circumstances  already  explained,  and 
many  others  w^hich  might  be  mentioned,  results  a  com 
plicated,  irresistible  check,  which  must  ever  support 
the  existence  and  importance  of  the  State  governments. 
The  danger,  if  any  exists,  flows  from  an  opposite 
source.  The  probable  evil  is,  that  the  general  govern 
ment  will  be  too  dependent  on  the  State  Legislatures, 
too  much  governed  by  their  prejudices,  and  too  ob- 


3/6  HAMILTON. 

sequious  to  their  humors;  that  the  States,  with  every 
power  in  their  hands,  will  make  encroachments  on  the 
national  authority,  till  the  Union  is  weakened  and  dis 
solved. 

Every  member  must  have  been  struck  with  an  ob 
servation  of  a  gentleman  from  Albany.  Do  what  you 
will,  says  he,  local  prejudices  and  opinions  will  go  into 
the  government.  What !  shall  we  then  form  a  Consti 
tution  to  cherish  and  strengthen  these  prejudices? 
Shall  we  confirm  the  distemper,  instead  of  remedying 
it.  It  is  undeniable  that  there  must  be  a  control  some 
where.  Either  the  general  interest  is  to  control  the 
particular  interests,  or  the  contrary.  If  the  former, 
then  certainly  the  government  ought  to  be  so  framed, 
as  to  render  the  power  of  control  efficient  to  all  intents 
and  purposes;  if  the  latter,  a  striking  absurdity  fol 
lows;  the  controlling  powers  must  be  as  numerous  as 
the  varying  interests,  and  the  operations  of  the  govern 
ment  must  therefore  cease ;  for  the  moment  you  accom 
modate  these  different  interests,  which  is  the  only  way 
to  set  the  government  in  motion,  you  establish  a  con 
trolling  power.  Thus,  whatever  constitutional  provi 
sions  are  made  to  the  contrary,  every  government  will 
be  at  last  driven  to  the  necessity  of  subjecting  the 
partial  to  the  universal  interest.  The  gentlemen  ought 
always,  in  their  reasoning,  to  distinguish  between  the 
real,  genuine  good  of  a  State,  and  the  opinions  and 
prejudices  which  may  prevail  respecting  it;  the  latter 
may  be  opposed  to  the  general  good,  and  consequently 
ought  to  be  sacrificed;  the  former  is  so  involved  in  it 
that  it  never  can  be  sacrificed. 

There  are  certain  social  principles  in  human  nature 


HAMILTON.  377 

from  which  we  may  draw  the  most  solid  conclusions 
with  respect  to  the  conduct  of  individuals  and  of  com 
munities.  We  love  our  families  more  than  our  neigh 
bors  ;  we  love  our  neighbors  more  than  our  countrymen 
in  general.  The  human  affections,  like  the  solar  heat, 
lose  their  intensity  as  they  depart  from  the  centre,  and 
become  languid  in  proportion  to  the  expansion  of  the 
circle  on  which  they  act.  On  these  principles,  the  at 
tachment  of  the  individual  will  be  first  and  forever 
secured  by  the  State  governments;  they  will  be  a 
mutual  protection  and  support.  Another  source  of 
influence,  which  has  already  been  pointed  out,  is  the 
various  official  connections  in  the  States.  Gentlemen 
endeavor  to  evade  the  force  of  this  by  saying  that  these 
offices  will  be  insignificant.  This  is  by  no  means  true. 
The  State  officers  will  ever  be  important,  because  they 
are  necessary  and  useful.  Their  powers  are  such  as 
are  extremely  interesting  to  the  people ;  such  as  affect 
their  property,  their  liberty,  and  life.  What  is  more 
important  than  the  administration  of  justice  and  the 
execution  of  the  civil  and  criminal  laws?  Can  the 
State  governments  become  insignificant  while  they 
have  the  power  of  raising  money  independently  and 
without  control?  If  they  are  really  useful;  if  they  are 
calculated  to  promote  the  essential  interests  of  the 
people;  they  must  have  their  confidence  and  support. 
The  States  can  never  lose  their  powers  till  the  whole 
people  of  America  are  robbed  of  their  liberties.  These 
must  go  together ;  they  must  support  each  other,  or 
meet  one  common  fate.  On  the  gentleman's  principle, 
we  may  safely  trust  the  State  governments,  though  we 
have  no  means  of  resisting  them;  but  we  cannot  con- 


378  HAMILTON. 

fide  in  the  national  government,  though  we  have  an 
effectual  constitutional  guard  against  every  encroach 
ment.  This  is  the  essence  of  their  argument,  and  it  is 
false  and  fallacious  beyond  conception. 

With  regard  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  two  govern 
ments,  I  shall  certainly  admit  that  the  Constitution 
ought  to  be  so  formed  as  not  to  prevent  the  States 
from  providing  for  their  own  existence;  and  I  main 
tain  that  it  is  so  formed ;  and  that  their  power  of  pro 
viding  for  themselves  is  sufficiently  established.  This 
is  conceded  by  one  gentleman,  and  in  the  next  breath 
the  concession  is  retracted.  He  says  Congress  has  but 
one  exclusive  right  in  taxation — that  of  duties  on  im 
ports;  certainly,  then,  their  other  powers  are  only 
concurrent.  But  to  take  off  the  force  of  this  obvious 
conclusion,  he  immediately  says  that  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  are  supreme  and  that  where  there  is 
one  supreme  there  cannot  be  a  concurrent  authority; 
and  further,  that  where  the  laws  of  the  Union  are 
supreme,  those  of  the  States  must  be  subordinate; 
because  there  cannot  be  two  supremes.  This  is  curious 
sophistry.  That  two  supreme  powers  cannot  act  to 
gether  is  false.  They  are  inconsistent  only  when  they 
are  aimed  at  each  other  or  at  one  indivisible  object. 
The  laws  of  the  United  States  are  supreme,  as  to  all 
their  proper,  constitutional  objects;  the  laws  of  the 
States  are  supreme  in  the  same  way.  These  supreme 
laws  may  act  on  different  objects  without  clashing;  or 
they  may  operate  on  different  parts  of  the  same  com 
mon  object  with  perfect  harmony.  Suppose  both  gov 
ernments  should  lay  a  tax  of  a  penny  on  a  certain 
article ;  has  not  each  an  independent  and  uncontrollable 


HAMILTON.  379 

power  to  collect  its  own  tax?  The  meaning  of  the 
maxim,  there  cannot  be  two  supremes,  is  simply  this — 
two  powers  cannot  be  supreme  over  each  other.  This 
meaning  is  entirely  perverted  by  the  gentlemen.  But, 
it  is  said,  disputes  between  collectors  are  to  be  referred 
to  the  Federal  courts.  This  is  again  wandering  in  the 
field  of  conjecture.  But  suppose  the  fact  is  certain;  is 
it  not  to  be  presumed  that  they  will  express  the  true 
meaning  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  ?  Will  they 
not  be  bound  to  consider  the  concurrent  jurisdiction; 
to  declare  that  both  the  taxes  shall  have  equal  opera 
tion;  that  both  the  powers,  in  that  respect,  are  sover 
eign  and  co-extensive  ?  If  they  transgress  their  duty, 
we  are  to  hope  that  they  will  be  punished.  Sir,  we 
can  reason  from  probabilities  alone.  When  we  leave 
common-sense,  and  give  ourselves  up  to  conjecture, 
there  can  be  no  certainty,  no  security  in  our  reasonings. 
I  imagine  I  have  stated  to  the  committee  abundant 
reasons  to  prove  the  entire  safety  of  the  State  govern 
ments  and  of  the  people.  I  would  go  into  a  more 
minute  consideration  of  the  nature  of  the  concurrent 
jurisdiction,  and  the  operation  of  the  laws  in  relation 
to  revenue ;  but  at  present  I  feel  too  much  indisposed 
to  proceed.  I  shall,  with  leave  of  the  committee,  im 
prove  another  opportunity  of  expressing  to  them  more 
fully  my  ideas  on  this  point.  I  wish  the  committee  to 
remember  that  the  Constitution  under  examination  is 
framed  upon  truly  republican  principles;  and  that,  as 
it  is  expressly  designed  to  provide  for  the  common  pro 
tection  and  the  general  welfare  of  the  United  States,  it 
must  be  utterly  repugnant  to  this  Constitution  to  sub 
vert  the  State  governments  or  oppress  the  people. 


380  ANDREW. 

Andrew,  John  A.,  an  eminent  American  statesman 
and  orator,  born  at  Windham,  Maine,  May  31,  1818;  died 
in  Boston,  Mass.,  October  30,  1867.  He  v/as  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1840,  and  for  twenty  years  was  prominent  as  a 
lawyer  of  Boston.  During  this  period  his  advocacy  of  Whig 
principles  had  made  him  conspicuous  in  politics,  and  he 
was  known  as  a  determined  opponent  of  slavery.  He 
entered  the  state  senate  in  1858,  and  in  1860  was  elected 
governor  of  his  state,  holding  office  for  five  successive  terms. 
He  actively  supported  the  war  measures  of  the  administra 
tion,  and  during  the  war  period  made  many  patriotic  ad 
dresses.  He  had  great  executive  ability,  and  his  oratory 
was  as  forcible  as  it  was  eloquent.  Among  his  more  impor 
tant  speeches  are  those  on  The  Eve  of  War,  addressed  to 
the  Massachusetts  legislature  in  1861,  In  Honor  of  Patriot 
Heroes,  and  on  The  Return  of  the  Battle  Flags. 


THE  EVE  OF  WAR. 

FROM    ADDRESS    TO    THE    LEGISLATURE    OF    MASSACHU 
SETTS,    JANUARY    5,    l86l. 

THE  constitutional  choice  to  the  presidency  of  a 
citizen  who  adheres  to  the  original  principles  of  the 
fathers  of  the  country,  is  the  happy  result  of  the  recent 
national  election.  But  by  events  which  have  since 
transpired  in  the  southern  States  it  appears  that  a 
large,  influential,  and  energetic  body  of  men  in  that 
section  of  the  country,  who  control  the  action  of  at 
least  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  desire  to  resist,  if 
necessary,  by  force  of  arms,  this  peaceful  and  consti 
tutional  triumph  of  republican  principles,  to  which 


ANDREW.  381 

they  ought  in  honor  and  loyalty  to  yield  a  generous 
acquiescence. 

Forgetful  of  the  traditions  of  their  ancestors  they 
seem  determined  to  live  in  peace  under  no  govern 
ment  which  shall  not  concede  to  them  the  privilege 
not  only  of  enslaving  their  fellow  beings  within  their 
own  dominion,  but  also  of  transporting  them  at  their 
pleasure  into  the  national  territory,  or  from  State  to 
State  absolutely  without  restriction,  and  of  retaining 
them  as  slaves  wheresoever  within  the  national  limits 
they  themselves  may  please  to  sojourn. 

It  is  the  recommendation  of  President  Buchanan  in 
his  recent  annual  message,  that  by  means  of  consti 
tutional  amendments  to  be  initiated  by  Congress  or 
in  a  national  convention,  concessions  shall  be  made  for 
the  satisfaction  of  this  extraordinary  demand.  This 
is  a  subject  which  I  commend  to  your  immediate  but 
deliberate  consideration,  and  I  shall  be  happy  to  con 
cur  with  what  I  hope  will  be  the  unanimous  sentiment 
of  the  legislature,  in  a  declaration  of  the  opinion  of 
Massachusetts  with  reference  to  the  state  of  the 
Union  and  the  suggestions  of  the  federal  Executive. 

If  Massachusetts,  either  by  voice  or  vote,  can  prop 
erly  do  anything  to  avert  from  those  misguided  men 
the  miserable  consequences  which  threaten  to  succeed 
their  violent  action — the  pecuniary  disturbances  and 
the  civil  commotions  which  must  necessarily  occur 
within  their  own  borders  if  they  persist  in  their  career, 
her  voice  and  vote  should  not  be  withheld.  Not  the 
least  deplorable  result  of  the  action  of  South  Carolina 
I  apprehend  will  be  the  insecurity  to  life  and  property 
which  will  result  throughout  the  whole  South  from 


382  ANDREW. 

fear  of  servile  insurrection.  Wherever  slavery  exists, 
we  have  the  authority  of  Jefferson  for  believing  that, 
in  his  own  words,  "  the  hour  of  emancipation  is  ad 
vancing  in  the  march  of  time;  it  will  come;  and 
whether  brought  on  by  the  generous  energy  of  our 
own  minds,  or  by  the  bloody  process  of  St.  Domingo, 
is  a  leaf  of  our  history  not  turned  over." 

The  enslaved  negro  population  of  the  South  is  not 
destitute  of  intelligence  nor  devoid  of  that  sentiment 
of  resistance  to  tyranny  which  naturally  inspires  the 
oppressed  to  seek  for  freedom.  If  as  appears  prob 
able  it  shall  once  conceive  from  the  present  march  of 
events  that  it  has  no  hope  of  emancipation  from  any 
generous  exertion  of  the  minds  of  its  masters  a  resort 
to  that  process  will  be  only  the  logical  impulse  of 
human  nature.  That  God  may  be  pleased  to  overrule 
the  folly  of  man  so  as  to  avert  so  dreadful  a  calam 
ity  must  be  the  prayer  o.f  every  American;  but  in  my 
judgment  it  lies  in  the  end  of  the  road  which  South 
Carolina  invites  her  sister  States  upon  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  to  enter. 

I  have  searched  the  position  of  Massachusetts  with 
all  the  disinterested  patriotism  which  I  could  com 
mand  for  the  performance  of  that  duty,  and  I  find 
nothing  by  which  I  can  reproach  her  with  responsi 
bility  for  such  results  if  they  shall  come  to  pass;  but  I 
invite  you  to  a  similar  examination. 

The  truth  of  history  compels  me  to  declare  that  one 
chief  source  of  the  difficulty  which  we  are  called  to 
encounter  lies  in  the  incessant  misrepresentation  of 
the  principles,  purposes,  and  methods  of  the  people 
who  compose  the  majority  in  the  free  States  by  super- 


ANDREW.  383 

serviceable  individuals,  who  undertake  to  monopolize 
friendship  for  the  people  of  the  slave-holding  States ; 
and  candor  requires  me  to  add  that  they  profess  a 
friendship  the  largest  part  of  which  might  be  analyzed 
into  dislike  of  their  political  opponents. 

I  have  for  twenty  years  past  been  a  constant  and 
careful  observer  of  public  men  and  affairs;  and  for 
twelve  years,  at  least,  I  have  been  intimately  aware 
of  the  private  as  well  as  the  public  declarations  and 
conduct  of  the  representative  men  in  almost  every 
town  and  village  of  the  Commonwealth.  I  think  I 
may  claim  also  some  intimacy  with  the  great  body  of 
the  people  of  Massachusetts  of  whatsoever  party. 
This  period  has  been  one  of  extraordinary  and  intense 
political  interest.  The  tenderest  sentiments,  the  deep 
est  convictions,  the  warmest  emotions  have  all  been 
stirred  by  the  course  of  public  affairs.  Bitter  disap 
pointments,  the  keenest  sense  of  injustice,  the  con 
sciousness  of  subjection  to  most  flagrant  wrong  have 
fallen  to  the  lot  of  our  people. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  of  1850  with  its  merciless 
severity  and  the  ostentatious  indignity  with  which  it 
was  executed ;  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  restriction 
upon  the  extension  of  slavery  over  national  territory; 
the  violent  means  adopted  to  prevent  emigrants  from 
this  Commonwealth  from  participating  in  the  settle 
ment  of  Kansas ;  the  invasion  of  that  Territory  by  men 
armed  with  the  plunder  from  national  arsenals;  the 
imposition  of  fraudulent  legislatures  upon  a  people 
temporarily  subjugated  by  ruffianism  and  unprotected 
bv  a  federal  executive  which  also  forbade  them  to 
protect  themselves;  the  indiscriminate  pillage, fire, and 


384  ANDREW. 

slaughter  to  which  peaceable  settlers  were  subjected 
without  cause  or  excuse;  the  repeated  exertions  of 
the  national  administration  in  conspiracy  with  the 
enemies  of  freedom  and  good  government,  to  impose 
and  enforce  upon  Kansas  a  constitution  sanctioning 
slavery;  the  attempt  to  withdraw  the  discussion  of 
political  questions  from  the  people  themselves  and  to 
confine  it  to  a  conclave  of  judges;  the  assault  upon 
free  speech  in  Congress  by  a  murderous  attack  upon 
a  senator  in  his  seat  for  opinions  expressed  in  debate 
and  for  the  manner  of  their  expression;  the  indiffer 
ence  of  positive  approval  with  which  this  attempt  to 
overthrow  representative  institutions  was  treated 
throughout  a  large  portion  of  the  country;  the  pros 
titution  of  all  the  powers  of  the  government  and  the 
bending  of  all  its  energy  to  propagate  a  certain  inter 
est  for  the  benefit  of  a  few  speculators  in  lands, 
negroes,  and  politics,  and  to  discourage  the  free  labor 
of  the  toiling  masses  of  the  people;  the  menaces  of 
violence  and  war  against  the  constitution  and  the 
Union  with  which  our  arguments  and  our  constitu 
tional  resistance  have  been  met;  these  all  are  but  a 
part  of  the  record  of  the  last  ten  years  of  American 
political  history,  which  is  burned  into  the  memory  of 
the  people  of  Massachusetts. 

And  yet  during  all  the  excitement  of  this  period, 
inflamed  by  the  heats  of  repeated  presidential  elec 
tions,  I  have  never  known  a  single  Massachusetts 
Republican  to  abandon  his  loyalty,  surrender  his  faith, 
or  seal  up  his  heart  against  the  good  hopes  and  kind 
affections  which  every  devoted  citizen  ought  to  enter 
tain  for  every  section  of  his  country.  During  all  this 


ANDREW.  385 

maladministration  of  the  national  government,  the 
people  of  Massachusetts  have  never  wavered  from 
their  faith  in  its  principles  or  their  loyalty  to  its  or 
ganization. 

Looking  forward  to  the  long  ages  of  the  future; 
building  always,  in  their  own  minds,  for  countless 
generations  yet  to  come ;  they  have  endured,  and  are 
willing  still  cheerfully  and  hopefully  to  endure,  much 
wrong  and  more  misconception,  because  they  trust  in 
the  blood  inherited  from  heroic  ancestors;  in  the 
principles  of  constitutional  liberty;  in  the  theory 
of  democratic  institutions;  in  the  honest  purpose  of 
the  intelligent  masses  of  the  people  everywhere;  in 
the  capacity  of  truth  and  right  ultimately  to  reach  and 
control  the  minds  of  men;  in  an  undying  affection 
for  their  whole  country,  its  memories,  traditions,  and 
hopes ;  and  above  all  in  the  good  Providence  of  God. 

It  was  at  a  great  cost  that  our  fathers  established 
their  independence  and  erected  this  Union  of  States 
— which  exists  under  the  form  of  a  national  govern 
ment,  unquestionable  as  to  its  authority  to  act  on  all 
persons  and  all  things  within  the  sphere  of  its  juris 
diction  and  the  range  of  its  granted  powers.  It  needs 
ask  permission  from  no  one  to  fulfil  its  functions  or  to 
perpetuate  its  existence.  It  has  no  right  nor  power 
to  abdicate;  nor  to  expel  a  State,  or  any  portion  of 
the  people  of  any  State,  from  the  benefits  of  its  pro 
tection  ;  nor  to  permit  their  revolt  against  the  duties 
of  a  common  citizenship. 

By  the  incurring  of  national  debts,  by  the  granting 
of  pensions,  patents,  and  copyrights,  by  the  issue  of 
commissions  establishing  a  tenure  of  office  not  ter- 


386  ANDREW. 

minable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  appointing1  power,  by 
the  purchase  and  the  conquest  of  territory  erected 
into  additional  States,  by  the  improvement  of  harbors 
and  rivers  and  the  construction  of  military  roads,  by 
the  settlement  of  wildernesses  and  the  development  of 
their  resources  under  the  national  patronage,  by  the 
investment  of  vast  sums  of  money  in  buildings  for 
the  transaction  of  public  business,  in  light-houses, 
navy-yards,  fortifications,  vessels  of  war,  and  their 
equipment,  by  the  assumption  of  obligations  under 
treaties  with  Indian  tribes  and  foreign  powers,  the 
people  of  the  United  States  have  paid  and  are  paying 
a  continuing  consideration  for  the  existence  of  this 
national  government  in  all  its  sovereign  territorial 
integrity. 

All  the  people  of  all  the  States  are  interlocked  and 
interlaced  in  a  vast  web  of  mutual  interests,  rights, 
and  obligations  as  various  and  as  precious  as  are  the 
characteristics  of  that  wonderful  civilization  in  which 
they  participate.  And  this  Union,  through  whatever 
throes  or  crises  it  may  pass,  cannot  expire  except 
with  the  annihilation  of  the  people. 

Come  what  may  I  believe  that  Massachusetts  will 
do  her  duty.  She  will  stand  by  the  incoming  national 
administration  as  she  has  stood  bv  the  past  ones;  be 
cause  her  people  will  forever  stand  by  their  country. 
The  records  of  her  revolutionary  history  declare  her 
capacity  and  her  will  to  expend  money,  sympathy,  and 
men  to  sustain  the  common  cause.  More  than  half 
the  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  were  furnished  by  New 
England;  and  Massachusetts  alone  contributed  more 
men  to  the  federal  armies  than  were  enlisted  in  all 


ANDREW.  387 

the  southern  States.  She  is  willing  to  make  the  same 
sacrifices  again  if  need  be  in  the  same  cause;  and  her 
capacity  to  do  so  has  increased  in  proportion  with  the 
increase  in  her  wealth  and  population. 

The  echoes  of  the  thunder  of  her  revolutionary 
battlefields  have  not  yet  died  away  upon  the  ears  of 
her  sons,  and  the  vows  and  prayers  of  her  early  pa 
triots  still  whisper  their  inspiration.  The  people  of 
Massachusetts  will  in  any,  event  abide  by  her  plighted 
faith.  She  agreed  to  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States.  It  is  the  charter  of  the  Union,  it  is  the  record 
of  the  contract,  and  the  written  evidence  of  rights 
intended  to  be  secured  to  the  States  and  to  the  people. 

History  shows  that  never  at  any  one  time  is  there 
more  than  one  grand  issue  on  trial  under  a  popular 
government  before  the  great  tribunal  of  the  people. 
A  reactionary  movement  against  the  doctrines  and 
traditions  of  liberty  handed  down  from  the  beginning 
precipitated  the  trial  in  the  elections  of  1856  of  an 
issue  made  up  upon  the  relation  of  slavery  to  the  terri 
torial  possessions  of  the  nation,  and  the  right  of  the 
people  to  manage  those  possessions  so  as  to  protect 
themselves,  preserve  their  liberties,  strengthen  the 
Union,  promote  the  common  happiness  and  welfare, 
and  best  develop  the  resources  of  the  lands  within 
exclusive  federal  jurisdiction. 

By  the  conduct  and  manifest  designs  of  the  leaders 
of  that  same  reactionary  movement  the  same  issue 
was  kept  open  and  presented  to  the  country  in  a  form 
still  more  intense,  and  a  popular  verdict  demanded  in 
the  elections  of  1860.  So  far  as  that  issue  can  be 
settled  by  a  popular  election  of  President  of  the 
13—1 


388  ANDREW. 

United  States,  its  settlement  is  for  the  present  com 
plete.  In  the  next  national  election  it  may  again  be 
presented  and  the  grand  issue  of  1860  be  repeated  in 
1864,  should  the  people  of  the  country  be  of  opinion 
that  any  duty  or  practical  advantage  remains  depend 
ent  on  the  possible  result  of  a  new  trial.  Meanwhile 
other  duties  command  our  immediate  care.  There  is 
now  no  issue  before  the  people  touching  their  politi 
cal  relations  to  slavery  in  the  Territories.  The 
policy  of  the  national  government  in  that  regard  is 
determined  for  -the  next  four  years;  but  instead  of 
preparing  for  a  rehearing  and  an  endeavor  to  reverse 
the  verdict  at  the  end  of  that  period,  that  party  of 
reaction  has  now  engaged  in  an  effort  to  abolish  the 
tribunal  and  overthrow7  the  authority  of  the  people 
themselves.  And  the  single  question  now  presented 
to  the  nation  is  this:  "Shall  a  reactionary  spirit, 
unfriendly  to  liberty,  be  permitted  to  subvert  demo 
cratic  republican  government  organized  under  consti 
tutional  forms?  " 

Upon  this  issue,  over  the  heads  of  all  mere  poli 
ticians  and  partisans,  in  behalf  of  the  Commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts  I  appeal  directly  to  the  warm  hearts 
and  clear  heads  of  the  great  masses  of  the  people. 
The  men  who  own  and  till  the  soil,  who  drive  the 
mills,  and  hammer  out  their  own  iron  and  leather 
on  their  own  anvils  and  lapstones,  and  they  who, 
whether  in  the  city  or  the  country,  reap  the  rewards  of 
enterprising  industry  and  skill  in  the  varied  pursuits 
of  business,  are  honest,  intelligent,  patriotic,  inde 
pendent,  and  brave.  They  know  that  simple  defeat 
in  an  election  is  no  cause  for  the  disruption  of  a  gov- 


ANDREW.  389 

ernment.  They  know  that  those  who  declare  that 
they  will  not  live  peaceably  within  the  Union  do  not 
mean  to  live  peaceably  out  of  it.  They  know  that  the 
people  of  all  sections  have  a  right  which  they  intend 
to  maintain,  of  free  access  from  the  interior  to  both 
oceans,  and  from  Canada  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and 
of  the  free  use  of  all  the  lakes  and  rivers  and  high 
ways  of  commerce,  north,  south,  east,  or  west.  They 
know  that  the  Union  means  peace  and  unfettered 
commercial  intercourse  from  sea  to  sea  and  from 
shore  to  shore;  that  it  secures  us  all  against  the  un 
friendly  presence  or  possible  dictation  of  any  foreign 
power,  and  commands  respect  for  our  flag  and  security 
for  our  trade. 

And  they  do  not  intend,  nor  will  they  ever  consent 
to  be  excluded  from  these  rights  which  they  have  so 
long  enjoyed,  nor  to  abandon  the  prospect  of  the 
benefits  which  humanity  claims  for  itself  by  means  of 
their  continued  enjoyment  in  the  future.  Neither 
will  they  consent  that  the  continent  shall  be  overrun 
by  the  victims  of  a  remorseless  cupidity,  and  the  ele 
ments  of  civil  danger  increased  by  the  barbarizing 
influences  which  accompany  the  African  slave  trade. 

Inspired  by  the  same  ideas  and  emotions  which 
commanded  the  fraternization  of  Jackson  and  Webster 
on  another  great  occasion  of  public  danger,  the  people 
of  Massachusetts,  confiding  in  the  patriotism  of  their 
brethren  in  other  States,  accept  this  issue  and  respond 
in  the  words  of  Jackson :  "  The  Federal  Union,  it 
must  be  preserved." 


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LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-50m-8,'63(D9954s4)458 


(McClure,  A.K. 

Famous  American  state 
wen  &  orators. 


Call  Number: 

E176 
M127 


v.l 


McCiare 


EI7b 


S95521 


